by Maggie King

A while back, I had a conversation with a well-read young couple. Like me, they enjoyed mysteries, the classics, and literary fiction. When they asked what I was working on, I said I was finishing my third novel and planned to focus on short stories for a while.

“Really?” The man looked doubtful. “I know that writers like writing short stories, but do readers like reading them?”

“I’m guessing you don’t,” I said. “What is it you don’t like about them?”

“They’re too, well, short.”

The woman added, “Just when I’m getting into the characters, the story ends.”

Are their comments typical ones? I expect so.

When I asked my book group members if they read short stories, I got blank looks. One of them, a retired English teacher no less, said, “Well … we read them in school.”

My first short story was published a…