Stories of all lengths and depths come from different parts of the cave. For a novel, you must lay in mental, physical and spiritual provision as for a siege or for a time of hectic explosions, while a short story is, or can be, a steady, timed flame like the lighting of a blow lamp on a building site full of dry tinder.
Interpretation
Writing requires careful preparation and understanding of different forms.
In this quote, Jane Gardam emphasizes the distinct approaches needed for crafting a novel versus a short story. She uses metaphors of a siege and a steady flame to illustrate that while a novel demands extensive mental and emotional investment akin to preparing for a challenging battle, a short story can be more focused and deliberate, akin to lighting a controlled flame in a construction setting. This highlights the diverse skills and preparations involved in different forms of storytelling.
In practice
An author discussed her creative process during a workshop.
I discovered that writing was very nice indeed when I was very young, and I never changed. I don't think my style has changed very much at all - though I hope what I say is a bit more interesting. It's about getting to know a character and loving them, I think.
I started to write as a child as soon as I could read, or even before, when my mother read me Beatrix Potter at bedtime. Writing seemed to me to be the only sensible way to live and be happy.
I was nearly 40 when I started. I had no fear that I wasn't going to write. I knew it was just delayed. Then, my goodness, I never stopped.
In modern novels, there is no one I want to copy. My style 'is a poor thing, but it is my own.'
The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness.
The object of poetic activity is essentially language: whatever his beliefs and convictions, the poet is more concerned with words than with what these words designate.
I always felt that nobody was going to understand me, going to understand what I felt about things. I guess that's why I started writing. At least on paper I could put down what I thought.
In the beginning, the cubists broke up form without even knowing they were doing it. Probably the compulsion to show multiple sides of an object forced us to break the object up - or, even better, to project a panorama that unfolded different facets of the same object.
It's important that when you do standup, you do small places like coffee shops and also big places like colleges. It helps you find the little nuances in your set that don't work, and you can shave off the excess.
Fashion is very important. It is life-enhancing and, like everything that gives pleasure, it is worth doing well.
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