Now personally, I'm not primarily a novelist. I write mostly short stories. I do eventually plan to do one or more novels. In fact, I've been writing a number of short stories, lately, in a world I plan to eventually write one or more novels in.
I believe that even someone who sees themselves mainly as a novelist benefits from writing short stories, related to their novels or not, as well.
The one novella I wrote grew from a short story. While working on a short story yesterday, a character suddenly upgraded itself and I realized I had a subplot for the future novel project on my hands.
I think especially if your talking high fantasy or any story type/genre with a lot of worldbuilding, writing short stories in that world beforehand would be a useful tool.
As far as publication...I know "Something Wicked This Way Comes" was based on a published short story. I don't think its too big a issue, but it isn't my area of expertise.
Edited to add: Yip, yip!
[This message has been edited by Merlion-Emrys (edited July 27, 2010).]
Several people at Boot Camp are turning the short story they wrote there into novels and I may do the same with mine. So I think it's fine to do some exploring with short stories. ME is doing a lot of great stories in his world and I suspect that will be good support for what has to be a series of novels.
You might want to simply write one short and request feedback here on the forum in the Fragments and Feedback section. That will get you a fair bit of opinion. Or join the WotF critique group over in Hatrack Groups. Then you're pretty much guaranteed several viewpoints. I don't know if you have to get it published to see how people respond to the concept.
Don't let the bunny and cat suits fool you. They know of what they spaketh.
I've also done a short story in the same world as my first (still unpublished) novel.
If you manage to get the short story published, I think it can only help your chances of selling the novel eventually.
Oh, and YEARS to write a novel. I wrote the first draft of BLOOD WILL TELL in three and a half weeks last August. And it wasn't even NANO. And yes, come to think of it, I have spent almost as much time on some short stories. I've got to get back to that last one . . .
Just my two cents.
I am just not sure about writing a short story for a proof of concept. If the short story is well received, then you will invest the time into it to make it a novel? If not, you scrap it?
What if the novel idea just doesn't lend itself well to a short story? You could potentially be tossing aside an awesome idea just because the short story didn't work.
I just don't think there are any short cuts to publishing. And thinking about wasting a year on writing a novel is thinking about this whole writing thing the wrong way. No writing is a waste of time even if what you have at the end is unpublishable because you learn from it. People spend years writing short stories and trying to get them published. Is that time wasted?
There are many ways to break into the publishing world. Some start out with short stories, some go straight to novels. I think everyone should write what they are truly passionate about. That is the best way to get published IMO.
Something similar happened to our esteemed Mr. Card and his novelette for Ender's Game. (evil grin)
I agree absolutely that the effort that goes into conceptualizing a short piece can be equivalent to that of a novel, and that shorter pieces often can tell the same general story as a novel, just contracted and/or faster.
Also, most short work tells only one person's side of the story. Novels often tell multiple sides of the same story, making them richer and more complex.
The novel is just about outlined, but it's not at the top of my wip. I wrote two and a half novels last year (they all go into my hope chest.
So it can be done. I think sometimes, writing the short story gives your creative muse a chance to develop some things about your character or about your plot that you might not come with just cogitating.
[This message has been edited by Owasm (edited July 27, 2010).]