IntroductionI drive a two-seater. Its a drop-top sports car built low to the ground for better control and handling. All right, its an automatic with a pushbutton, electronic top. But thats not the point. The point is that when the tops down and Im sailing through the curves along the bay, the wind cutting in behind my shades, I cant think of a better car to be in. Sure, its so small, I cant fit more than one suitcase into it. But again, thats not the point. The point is performance and beauty. In a word, velocity. The point is this is why I love the short story. Velocity. Room for one suitcase only. The short story deals with issues and themes large and small. But it does it succinctly and quickly. The short story is a car for the short track. Put the top down and power into the curves. If youre going a long distance, get yourself a novel. Take the freeway and get yourself an SUV. I drove seven SUVs before I ever tried a sports car. I found the difference amazing. You have to dig in to write a novel. You have to cover all the angles. You need a trunk big enough to carry a lot of baggage and extra supplies. Conversely, the short story is lean and mean and built low to the ground. Its ideas burn on high-test. They are spare and to the point. What happened to me happened to many novelists I know. You push a few books out there, get them on the shelf, and get a bit of notice. Then comes the big question: "Have you ever thought about a short story?" One thing leads to another, and you leave the big car in the garage, and youre out running around in a candy-apple-red sports car. Its fun. Its a change of pace. Nine out of ten doctors recommend it. In these same pages last year James Ellroy said he wrote his first short story only to pay off a debt. After that, he repeatedly returned to the short form. Me, too. In fact, my guess is that the debt I paid with my first short story was to the same guy - but thats another story. The point is I reluctantly tried it and then liked it. I ended up happy for the coercive genesis of it. I got hooked. I found the short story gave me balance. Elements of character and action and intrigue were all there. But in a spare form I found invigorating. I like the short story because you can conceive and complete in hours or weeks instead of months or years. It is a form I am sure I will always come back to. It has become part of how I evaluate and then execute my ideas as a writer. This is not by any means to say that the short story is the easier road to take. The novel and the short story are simply different animals. Or, I should say, beasts. In the spare style of the short story is the bedrock philosophy of less is more. This makes the labor over each paragraph, each sentence, intensely important. Every word must count in the short story, so the pressure of the writing experience is ratcheted down tightly on the author. What you have here in this collection are Excerpted from The Best American Mystery Stories 2003 All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
