/lit/ - Literature

As someone who has gotten halfway through a couple novels then abandoned them, should I work on completing/polishing short stories instead? Anyone have any advice on writing short stories, idk how the form changes other than being more pertinent with all information presented.

My opening, pls feedback. Short, personal essay, will be 1500-2000 words total.


Far in the isolation of the Great Basin Desert, a small, golden valley sits, surrounded by fields of dry sagebrush and faded hills. Lit brilliantly beneath a setting sun, I should have been taking photographs, or at least admiring the glorious scene. Instead, I was digging.


Driven by sadness and curious apathy, I’d plowed my Honda Civic through the bushes and rocks, following a barely-there road that crossed from the Utah desert into the Nevada desert. Somehow I’d made it to the valley, but after all the dusty miles, as I swung around a bend, the road dissolved into powder and my car sunk right in. Unthinking, I tried to accelerate. Great waves of sand spat into the air and my car dug into deep ruts until I found myself high-centered, sunk completely to the undercarriage. No cell service. No civilization. An empty desert, mockingly serene all around me, trapping me.


Digging furiously, hands clawing at the sand, I glared at the sun. It fell slowly, a ticking clock. Sweat beaded on my neck.