How to keep stories short?

[Starr Polish]

Leave some mystery in the story by leaving out some of the details (no matter how great they seem to be) and let the reader fill in bits with his or her imagination. I do this a lot. Example: In my story "Antigone's Confession" (which is very dark and will never see Entmoot) the main character's mother is gone, but I only imply this and never tell why. I have my own idea in my head as to what happened, but it's left to interpretation of the reader. Also, some descriptive details, like the history of a certain object treasured by a character, can be easily left out without hurting hte story. Ifyou really want to keep the ideas, simply write an accompanying history as things pop into your head. ::shrug::