I agree with the Lev Tolstoy quote completely, but I also feel like there's more to it. What is a happy family and an unhappy family? We're probably both of those things at the same time.
Peter OrnerWe don't want emotion handed to us - that's not emotion. You have to build and come from the reader's soul.
Peter OrnerWhat you can do with a short story that you can't do with a novel is punch someone in the gut, in the best of ways.
Peter OrnerI write when I have something to say and not when I don't. My time is better spent if I know I have nothing to say. I don't consider it writer's block; I just don't have anything to say.
Peter OrnerI think that maybe happy families don't need stories the way unhappy families need stories. Maybe they're too busy living that they don't actually step back and talk about life like the Anton Chekhov quote. I prefer Anton Chekhov to Lev Tolstoy, and the reason is because of what he leaves out. Sometimes I think Tolstoy had a theory that he was proving and he proved it. Chekhov is more ambiguous.
Peter Orner