Absolutely agree and as a newbie at fiction I've realized the art is really in keeping things concise yet complete.

Also, I think I've read far too much of the likes of Ayn Rands than true storytellers.

The first ever piece of fiction I set out to write is also on Medium called The Blue Eyed Woman, and what I realized was that i was at 2,000 words and I hadn't even set the plot, and then I cut short the story to not make it longer than a 10 min read.

So I do tend to go into novel-writing mode, and fail at short stories.

The endless expositions probably work when they are part of larger stories and the reader is in that state of mind - not for short stories!

So next piece I write I am going to focus more on making it a dialogue / keeping it punchy and not getting lost too much in the woods - and will keep all of this feedback in mind!

Super helpful!