A
sketch story, in older usage, is a piece of writing that is generally shorter than a
short storyA short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format or medium tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels or books...
, and contains very little, if any, plot. The term was most popularly-used in the late nineteenth century. It is also often referred to simply as 'the sketch.'
A sketch story may contain little or no plot; the sketch itself may describe impressions of people or places. They may focus on individual moments, leaving the reader to imagine for themselves the events that led to this occasion, and to wonder what events will follow.
A
sketch story, in older usage, is a piece of writing that is generally shorter than a
short storyA short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format or medium tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels or books...
, and contains very little, if any, plot. The term was most popularly-used in the late nineteenth century. It is also often referred to simply as 'the sketch.'
Style
A sketch story may contain little or no plot; the sketch itself may describe impressions of people or places. They may focus on individual moments, leaving the reader to imagine for themselves the events that led to this occasion, and to wonder what events will follow.
In short, a sketch story aims at suggestiveness rather than explicitness.
Modern usage
In modern usage, the term "
short storyA short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format or medium tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels or books...
" embraces what was once popularly termed "the sketch." During the twentieth century, writers greatly extended the range of the short story to the point where the "
storyA story is a narrative.Story is a common term for a description of a sequence of events, notably:* Bedtime story, a traditional form of storytelling, told to a child to prepare them for sleep...
" itself became inessential. Today short, short stories can be called
flash fictionFlash fiction is fiction of extreme brevity. There is no widely accepted definition of the length of the category. Some self-described markets for flash fiction impose caps as low as 300, while others consider stories as long as 1000 words to be flash fiction.-Terms:Other names for flash fiction...
.
Popular writers of sketch stories
- Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian short-story writer, playwright and physician, considered to be one of the greatest short-story writers in the history of world literature. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
(1860-1904):
A major Russian short story writer and playwright. The point of a typical Chekhov story is most often what happens within a given character, and that is conveyed indirectly, by suggestion or by significant detail. Chekhov eschews the traditional build-up of chronological detail, instead emphasizing moments of epiphanies and illumination over a significantly shorter period of time.
- Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet . Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period, and is often called Australia's "greatest writer".-Early life:Henry Lawson was born in a town on the Grenfell...
(1867-1922):
An iconic Australian short story writer and poet. However, Lawson was arguably most accomplished at writing the sketch story. In 1933,
Edward GarnettEdward Garnett was an English writer, critic and a significant and personally generous literary editor, who was instrumental in getting D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers published. His father Richard Garnett was a writer and librarian at the British Museum...
praised Lawson's sketches, once observing that "Lawson gets even more feeling observation and atmosphere into a page than does
HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway was an American writer and journalist. He was part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris, and one of the veterans of World War I later known as "the Lost Generation." He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea, and the Nobel Prize in Literature...
." Lawson, himself, was a firm believer in the merits of 'the sketch:'
"I thought the short story was a lazy man's game, second to 'free' verse, compared with the sketch. The sketch, to be really good, must be good in every line. But the sketch-story is best of all."
- Saki
Hector Hugh Munro , better known by the pen name Saki, was a British writer, whose witty and sometimes macabre stories satirized Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story and is often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn...
Edwardian satirist, first published in the
Westminster GazetteThe Westminster Gazette was a liberal newspaper based in London which started publishing on January 31, 1893. It merged with the Daily News in 1928. It was known for publishing sketches and short stories, including early works by Antony Hope and Saki, and travel writing by Rupert Brooke.-References:*...
. His short stories were collected as books still in print 100 years later. His Parliamentary sketches were popular at the time.
Washington Irving (american romanticism)
- "The Shetch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gentleman"
- the book of sketches (more than 30) and several short stories
- mostly set in England, some in America
- the most famous works from this book: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle