Have just read Carson McCullers' 'The Member of the Wedding' and recommend it to anyone who needs reassurance (as I did) that a story can be as long as it likes provided minute attention is given to the basic underpinning of the thing - the structure and the language. This short novel is beautifully, economically told and I found it mesmerising all the way through. In fact, like Mary Poppins, it's practically perfect in every way. If you haven't read it - can't believe it escaped me for so long - do seek it out.

I've been meaning to read that for years and never got round it - gets referred to by so many people writing about short fic. Do you have it in a collection?

It's a fabulous book! I love Carson McCullers! Thanks for reminding me of her wordsmithereen - time to dust her down and have a reread!

Emma, it's in a collection I bought recently on Amazon which includes all her shorts together with this and 'The Ballad of the Sad Cafe' which is also excellent and also a novella.

MoftheW is written in three parts (McCullers adapted it into a play and it has been filmed at least twice). I caught part of the 1952 film on TV years ago and was mesmerised by that, also, and was delighted to find that it started life as a short story/novella and that the writing held me at least as much as the film did.

I'm not surprised it's referenced so often, it's a small masterpiece.

The lesson I learned, re. story length, is that any kind of edifice can be designed and built, as long as the architect knows what he or she is doing.

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You're welcome, Jem!

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I should add that I still think many modern short stories are too long (and, sometimes, too short - I can't bear so-called 'flash fiction' because not enough attention is given by some modern writers to the various elements that need that attention in a story, just rambling on and often not adding up to a satisfactory 'wholeness'.

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inexplicable wink there

This one, Emma:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collected-Stories-Carson-Mccullers/dp/0395925053/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362655499&sr=1-8

Added to my reading list is her first novel, 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter' which I read a little of on Amazon and wanted more. She published it when she was 23!

Brilliant, thank you! One for the bookshop list.