Writing Short Stories: A Writers' and Artists' Companion PDF
Preview Writing Short Stories: A Writers' and Artists' Companion
Writing Short Stories 9781408130803_txt_print.indd 1 02/09/2014 15:54 ii Writing Short Stories A Writers’ and Artists’ Companion Courttia Newland and Tania Hershman Series Editors: Carole Angier and Sally Cline Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 9781408130803_txt_print.indd 3 02/09/2014 15:54 Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Bloomsbury Academic 50 BedfoArnd iSmqpurainret of Bloomsbury Publi1s3h8in5g BPrlocadway London New York 50 BWedCf1oBrd 3 SDqPuare 138N5Y B1r0o0a1d8way LonUdKon NewUS YAork WC1B 3DP www.bloomsbury.com NY 10018 UK USA BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc www.bloomsbury.com First published 2015 BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc © Tania Hershman, Courttia Newland and Contributors, 2015 First published 2015 Tania Hershman and Courttia Newland have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs © Tania Hershman, Courttia Newland and Contributors, 2015 and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Authors of this work. Tania Hershman and Courttia Newland have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Authors of this work. form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any inforAmll aritgiohnts srteosraegrvee do.r Nreot ripeavrat l osfy sthteism p, uwbiltihcaotuiot np rmioar yp ebrem riesspiroond uinc ewdr iotirn gtr afrnosmm itthteed pinu balinsyh ers. form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the No responsibility for loss caused to any indaivuidthuoarl. or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data author. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data ISBN: PB: 978-1-4081-3080-3 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ePDF: 978-1-4742-5730-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ISBNeP: uPBb:: 997788--11--44704821--53702890--39 A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Series: Writers' and Artists' Companions A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN Series: Writers' and Artists' Companions Printed and bound in India Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN Printed and bound in India 9781408130803_txt_print.indd 4 02/09/2014 15:54 9781408130803_txt_print.indd 4 02/09/2014 15:54 Contents Foreword by Kate Clanchy viii Preface x Part 1 The history of the short story: Tania 3 Crime, tricks and tales: genre and the short story: Courttia 15 The shorter end of short stories – boundaries with poetry: Tania 26 Stories: those little slices of life: Courttia 30 Reflections on writing and on books on writing: Tania 44 Reflections on the what, when, how, why and where of it for me: Tania 50 Reflections on the evolution of a short story: Courttia 62 The evolution of a short story: ‘Under the Tree’: Tania 70 Reflections: permission and risk: Tania 83 Part 2 Jenn Ashworth 89 Julia Bell 90 Anthony Doerr 92 Vanessa Gebbie 94 Tom Lee 96 v 9781408130803_txt_print.indd 5 02/09/2014 15:54 Contents Toby Litt 97 Alexander MacLeod 101 Alison MacLeod 102 James Miller 104 Alison Moore 106 Ryan O’Neill 107 Edith Pearlman 109 Jane Rogers 110 Henrietta Rose-Innes 111 Elspeth Sandys 113 Olive Senior 114 Di Speirs 115 Adam Thorpe 117 David Vann 119 Clare Wigfall 121 Part 3 A note on craft and critique: writing is not a democracy: Tania 127 From beginning to end: Courttia 130 Where to start – ideas and inspiration: Tania 141 Where to start: titles, beginnings and endings: Tania 146 Movement and syncopation in fiction: writing the long short story: Courttia 157 Plot versus story – where’s the tension?: Tania 166 Editing and revising: Courttia 169 Tenses: Tania 175 Step into a world – thoughts on structure: Courttia 178 vi 9781408130803_txt_print.indd 6 02/09/2014 15:54 Contents Structure and how to use it: Tania 184 What gets left out and minimalism: Tania 187 Speaking their minds – character and voice: Courttia 193 Writing flash fiction, liberation through constraint: Tania 198 A brief history of time in the short story: Tania 203 Another perspective – point of view in the story: Courttia 207 Voice and dialogue, using scenes: Tania 211 Experimenting and experimental short stories: Tania 216 Close reading of ‘Between My Father and the King’ by Janet Frame: Tania 220 Publishing short stories: Tania 232 Short story competitions – how to make your story stand out: Tania 238 Harvesting – on writing your collection: Courttia 243 Short story collections – how do they work and how to get one published?: Tania 250 60 favourite short stories: Tania and Courttia 254 50 favourite collections: Tania and Courttia 256 Bibliography 258 Index 275 vii 9781408130803_txt_print.indd 7 02/09/2014 15:54 Foreword by Kate Clanchy When writers start writing, it is very often with the short story. It can seem the least daunting of forms: more modest than the novel; less formally demanding than the poem. It is a lovable shape, too: almost everyone has a short story they treasure, that seems to speak to them with special intimacy and directness. Then, too, stories are wonderfully flexible: they can equally well be detective mysteries, science fiction, modernist or entirely surreal; they can be told by anybody from a mute child to a garrulous ancient prophet; and they can be as highbrow as Lydia Davis and or as entertaining as Dashiell Hammett. And above all, for writers who have just discovered what amazingly hard work it is to keep a sentence, let alone a paragraph, in perfect order, short stories are short. Short stories, though, are no sort of foothill. In fact – and I am writing this just as I finish my first collection – I think they are what the Scottish Munros are to the Swiss Alps – considerably smaller, but every bit as hard to climb. A poem, after all, can hold the new writer, as it held me when I set out to write, in its firm grip, giving ancient shapes to raw thoughts and impressions; novels, meanwhile, are baggier, more forgiving of the odd duff sentence or flag in the plot. The short story, in contrast, shines a harsh light on every word you write and neither gives you a shape nor forgives you for getting the shape wrong. It makes you, to paraphrase Hamlet, king of infinite space yet bounded in a nutshell, and sometimes, that can give you bad dreams. Or rather it can leave you floundering in the pit of anxiety which stopped you writing in the first place. How to get out of that pit is something all writers have to learn, and constantly relearn. Probably the best cure is a writing course, with a tutor, fellow writers, and this book as a companion, resource and guide. But if no course is instantly available, Writing Short Stories can be all three. viii 9781408130803_txt_print.indd 8 02/09/2014 15:54 Foreword Some of Britain’s most passionate writing teachers and practitioners of the short story have come together here to create a lively, personal and very practical guide to get you started and to keep you writing to that all-important ending. It will take you all the way to the top of your particular Munro, and show you how fabulous the view can be from here – on a fine day, every bit as good as Mont Blanc. And then set you off on the next climb. You might even find you write a book-full. ix 9781408130803_txt_print.indd 9 02/09/2014 15:54
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