For years I wrote and edited commercial newsletters. I got tired of the short form, limited content, and demands for accuracy and objectivity. So in my early sixties I revived my dormant goal of writing novels.

Switching from nonfiction to fiction and from 600 to 90,000 words forced me to learn new skills, activate a different part of my brain, and face the financial reality that fiction doesn’t pay well or soon. For the next 10 years, as I served my fiction apprenticeship, my earnings came almost  exclusively from my freelance editorial work.

In spare hours, I concentrated on learning to write mysteries. I struggled with pacing and planting clues, but I loved having 30 or so chapters in which to develop characters and explore situations. I had no desire to write short stories.

Then I needed a fiction credit to cite in the query letter to sell my first mystery. The Chesapeake chapter of Sisters in Crime announced open submissions for a short story anthology. If I could come up with a good short story, I could claim status as a mystery writer.

Easier said than done. The short story is a demanding form. In roughly 3,000 words you have to profile at least one compelling character, intrigue with plot, enhance action with setting, and end with a surprising but believable twist. To me, doing all this all depends on having a good idea, one that’s a gold nugget rather than a gold mine.

The best short story writers, including one of my early critique partners, think and write this way. I don’t, but a debate with my critique group on the reality of courage during crisis prompted me to create a notably timid woman. Circumstances force her to outwit and disarm a dangerous man to save her daughter’s life. The story worked, and I became a published mystery writer.

Another practical reason for writing short stories: They can help keep your name before fans and introduce you to others between novels, which generally come out about a year apart. I managed, with difficulty, to write a few short stories for other anthologies between my novels.

I’m not sure these helped my small career, but they challenged me to accomplish a lot in a few words. I rewrote and rewrote and rewrote. As in poetry, every word must contribute to the whole.

The stories for anthologies also gave me a way to test characters and settings that I might carry over into novels. I just read an old story that I had considered turning into a mystery series. Then my Show Me series took off, and I forgot about the other idea.

I still like it. I’m considering returning to the main characters and the setting, but this time for a series of linked short stories. These days writing 3,000 rather than 90,000 words appeals to me.

—Carolyn Mulford