If Narayan had written only short stories his reputation would have been secure. He confesses that he writes short stories when he tires of writing novels or when he has finished a novel and is waiting to write another one. The short story occasionally becomes an artistic interlude between two longer works or a way of taking his mind off the longer fiction he constantly writes because short stories are relatively less taxing, though not less challenging. Narayan's novels themselves are, as in some cases like The Talkative Man, long short stories and in his essay writing and his non-fictional narratives he employs the elements of the short story writer's craft.

Some discussion of what is a short story, why is the writing of it challenging, what is unique about the craft will be appropriate at this juncture. A short story, is a literary composition, which can be read at one sitting. It is, therefore, notable for economy in all respects. It can only deal with a few characters, unlike a novel; it often deals with the psychological processes of a single character, somewhat akin to an essay like Charles Lamb's “Dream Children; A Reverie.” It has to deal only with a slice of life and its plot has necessarily to be concentrated and well-made with none of the diffusiveness or expansiveness of a novel.