1) There should be a clean clear surface with much disturbance below.

2) An anagogical level.

3) Sentences that can stand strikingly alone.

4) An animal within to give its blessing.

5) Interior voices which are or become wildly erratically exterior.

6) A novel wants to befriend you, a short story almost never.

7) Control is necessary throughout. Constraints allow the short story to thrive.

8) The story’s effect should utterly transcend the naturalness and accessibility of its situation and language.

9) A certain coldness is required in execution. It is not a form that gives itself to consolation but if consolation is offered it should come from an unexpected quarter.

JOY WILLIAMS