Short Stories are Hard

I had to write a short story this weekend. It was hard. My short stories are a lot like chapters in my books. They have conflict and character development but leave one hanging at the end, wondering if that's really all of it, or did the author just stop writing?

I wish I was here!

A lot of books I've read end that way, actually.

I have to work on it some more. Part of the problem is that I have a hard time narrowing down the situation to fit in a few thousand words. I could write a whole book about these characters, maybe two. It's funny because I've written them before, but in a different situation they sprang to life in a way I hadn't expected. My hero has scars on his legs and the heroine is a bit of a witch.

I think I'm going to write past the end and see what happens. (grin)

How do you get ideas for short stories? How long are they, typically? Or do you prefer other forms of writing?