Had to choose between a flashy plot and a simple character study for my short story

I was working on a story for a local writing group last month and got stuck between two ideas. One was this big, dramatic plot about a heist gone wrong with explosions and double crosses. The other was just about a woman sitting on her porch watching her neighbors for an afternoon. I went with the simpler idea because I figured I could actually finish it. Turned out the feedback was way better than I expected. People said they felt like they knew the woman by the end, which was exactly what I wanted. Has anyone else picked the quiet route over the loud one and seen it pay off?

3 comments

3 Comments

ninaowens1mo ago

Totally agree with that "simple character study" idea. I did a story once about a guy who never left his apartment - just watched the same street corner every day for years. The whole thing was just him noticing a plant growing through a crack in the sidewalk and how it changed over a month. Ended up getting published in a lit mag, and one reviewer said it was "a meditation on patience." No way I'd have pulled that off with a car chase plot.

ruby_jones1mo ago

Okay but let me push back on that a little. A plant growing through concrete is fine and all, but if I'm being honest, that kind of story can get really boring really fast if you're not careful. I've read plenty of those "quiet observations" that just feel like the author was too lazy to come up with an actual plot, you know?

miles_burns1mo ago

Laughing at myself a bit here because my "simple character study" literally ended up being 600 words about a guy trying to open a jar of pickles. No joke. I wrote this whole internal monologue about his frustration, his memories of his grandma who made pickles, and how he finally gives up and just eats the pickles out of the jar with a fork. My writing group was like "this is surprisingly deep" and I was just glad I didn't have to explain a plot with actual stakes. Turned out people really connected with the pickle struggle, which says something about all of us I guess.