Until I started posting here I could never write anything shorter than a novel. :-) Short stories were never my thing. But with the contests and challenges, and the poetry challenges, I'm learning to write short, and find that I like it. But I know what you mean, pakled. I thought my piece read a little choppy too, after all the edits. And all the neat research I did on the Spanish Civil War, the Punic Wars, and Carthage largely got left in the bit bucket. I did keep the longer version of the story, though, and may even expand on it some day. I found I liked my characters and would not mind working them up some more. jon

 
~jon
My Blog - Mad Utopia Writing in a new era.