Let us begin at a notional beginning. I have an image in my head of a band of Neanderthals (or some similar troupe of humanoids) hunkered round the fire at the cave-mouth as the night is drawing in.

Drawing on writers from Anton Chekhov to Kit de Waal, Donal Ryan explores the art of writing short fiction. Plus Chris Power on the best books for budding short story writers The first story I wrote ...

There is a quieter, more succinct wing of literature that thrives on pithy conciseness: the short story. The authors of this art form have perfected the concept of this type of storytelling by ...

A short story is a type of prose fiction. Prose simply means it is written in sentences and paragraphs, and is not a poem or play-script. Fiction means the story is made up, though of course you can ...

Prose simply means it is written in sentences and paragraphs, and is not a poem or play script. Fiction means the story is made up, though of course you can base your story on something that has ...

Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter There is nothing more appealing, particularly when time is limited, than dipping into a short story collection. And just because this ...