For a very long time I was pretty staunchly resistant to
short story collections, favoring chunkier novels instead. I argued for character
development, depth of plot, and the secret-belief that they were cop-outs for
authors who didn’t want to commit to doing the time to write something
lengthier. I’m here today to talk about how wrong I was, though, as a reformed
short-story-disliker. Here’s what I’ve realized:
When You’re Short on Time
I love short story collections when I know I’m staring down
the barrel of a busy week that may not allow me larger slots of time to sit
down and dive into a novel. Most short stories can be read in less than an
hour, which makes tackling them in a sitting or two (or three) completely
doable. If I try to plow through a denser novel during a stretch where
I’m feeling stretched thin I’ll end up simply not reading, which is not how I
want to live my life, thankyouverymuch.
Travels Well
I also find short stories perfect for trips when I have
Sawyer with me and I know we’ll pretty busy, for many of the same reasons
previously mentioned (novels are perfect when I am traveling alone and have blocks of
hotel room down-time, though). I
also love short story volumes when I know I’ll get an hour by the pool or at a
coffee shop alone.
Not a Word Wasted
Writing a succinct, fascinating, well-crafted short story is probably in many ways
just as hard as writing a novel. With fewer pages you have less time to develop
your story, so not a page, sentence, nor word can be wasted. In order to pack the
necessary punch, short story writers are responsible for doing so much with so
little. I think until I started fiddling around with my own short stories I
really didn’t give these authors as much credit for what they’re able to do in
such a small allotment.
Responsibility Released
Let’s face it, as a busy reader sometimes I want to release
the responsibility of being accountable for remembering detailed back stories,
following intricate character connections, or hunting for well-placed symbols.
Sometimes my brain wants something that’s well-written but doesn’t require I
buy the mental equivalent to an external hard drive to keep everything sorted
out.
That being all well and good, how is a reader supposed to
find short stories that can stand their ground? My first suggestions would be
seeing if any of your favorite authors have collections. TC Boyle, Nathan
Englander, Roxane Gay, Viet Thanh Nguyen. Curtis Sittenfeld, Jeffrey Eugenides,
Nick Hornby, and Lauren Groff all do, just to get you started. I also like to
go through and see who has won any recent literary prizes in this category or
if some of the more reputable review sources have been touting any lately.
I’m currently reading Anthony Marra’s The Tsar of Love and Techno and am enjoying it immensely. What he
does is something that I always tend to appreciate with short story
collections: cross-story connections. In this specific text a certain painting and its
circumstances are carried over to each section, as well as a few of the
characters. Each story could stand alone, but there’s also meaning within the
whole. This route is probably the best one for those who gravitate towards
novels but may want to dip their toes in short stories.
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