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Q&A Do Short Stories Need Definitive Endings?

I'm looking to create a few short stories that are in a shared universe of sorts and I'm curious whether or not I need to have a definitive ending to a story. I'm thinking that the "end" would be m...

2 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Dylan Beck‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:52:32Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/36295
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Dylan Beck‭ · 2019-12-08T08:52:32Z (almost 5 years ago)
I'm looking to create a few short stories that are in a shared universe of sorts and I'm curious whether or not I need to have a definitive ending to a story. I'm thinking that the "end" would be more of a cliffhanger or something along the lines of the protagonist resolving some situation and moving towards the next conflict/plot point/scene to be picked up in a later story. I'm just not sure if this would take away from the story itself. I don't plan on selling these stories or publish them, just for my own collection. Maybe eventually bundle them together to have the entire universe experience or morph them into a connected novel.

Long winded explanation aside, I'm wondering if short stories need to have a definitive ending and resolution.

Thanks in advance!

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-05-21T17:37:12Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 14