I hate to admit I may have fallen into that same funk. But, you, among other writers in the new ebook world, have reignited my interest in shorter works.
It was never fully extinguished, just reading a book of stories by a single author at one time had fallen by the way.
One of the problems is the paucity of print magazines that publish short stories. Think back half a century and they were everywhere. Atlantic Review comes to mind but so many more. Why did they stop publishing them. THE NEW YORKER just publishes the same story every week. Good for Randy. Maybe the rest of the reading public will follow.
Thanks for sharing that! I love Stephen King's book On Writing too. It's not just TV, YouTube and twitter get people used to taking bite size portions of entertainment. It's even more surprising that the novel has survived. Right now I'm enjoying Alice Munro's collection of short stores, Too Much Happiness. As much as I enjoy short stories, though, I prefer novels over stories, and I barely watch TV. I like the depth of a longer story arc.
Funk is the write word, Randy. And sometimes I get into a funk when it comes to reading full-length novels. I get depressed how crappy a lot of them are and I've wasted my time.
Patti, I use to be a fan of that magazine but they seem to have lost their focus. A story like "Ric With No K" would give them a much needed push.
Sarah, We are simpatico on TV. A huge waste of time that has shortened the attention span of a couple generations.
Charles, My love for short stories has stayed consistent.
He's not wrong, but I don't think it's deliberate from the readership. The act of opening a book, not to talk about the act of seeking it is a lot more demanding that to sit on the couch and zap. Those who still read (In majority, don't take this literally, please) want something radically different, a long term relationship with a work of art and therefore the short story is often seen as not holding up to novels.
We all know here that this is a misconception, that short stories have a world of their own to offer. I like King's metaphor of the pinata, the "grab-bag". Hopefully, the immediacy of the Kindle and the transport-friendly form of the short story (and the novella) will help remedy this issue.
Anyway, that's just an opinion. Thanks for the video, David.
6 comments:
I hate to admit I may have fallen into that same funk. But, you, among other writers in the new ebook world, have reignited my interest in shorter works.
It was never fully extinguished, just reading a book of stories by a single author at one time had fallen by the way.
I'm relearning.
One of the problems is the paucity of print magazines that publish short stories. Think back half a century and they were everywhere. Atlantic Review comes to mind but so many more. Why did they stop publishing them. THE NEW YORKER just publishes the same story every week.
Good for Randy. Maybe the rest of the reading public will follow.
Thanks for sharing that! I love Stephen King's book On Writing too. It's not just TV, YouTube and twitter get people used to taking bite size portions of entertainment. It's even more surprising that the novel has survived. Right now I'm enjoying Alice Munro's collection of short stores, Too Much Happiness. As much as I enjoy short stories, though, I prefer novels over stories, and I barely watch TV. I like the depth of a longer story arc.
I probably still read about as many short stories as I used to. I read more back when I was writing more short stories, I think.
Funk is the write word, Randy. And sometimes I get into a funk when it comes to reading full-length novels. I get depressed how crappy a lot of them are and I've wasted my time.
Patti, I use to be a fan of that magazine but they seem to have lost their focus. A story like "Ric With No K" would give them a much needed push.
Sarah, We are simpatico on TV. A huge waste of time that has shortened the attention span of a couple generations.
Charles, My love for short stories has stayed consistent.
He's not wrong, but I don't think it's deliberate from the readership. The act of opening a book, not to talk about the act of seeking it is a lot more demanding that to sit on the couch and zap. Those who still read (In majority, don't take this literally, please) want something radically different, a long term relationship with a work of art and therefore the short story is often seen as not holding up to novels.
We all know here that this is a misconception, that short stories have a world of their own to offer. I like King's metaphor of the pinata, the "grab-bag". Hopefully, the immediacy of the Kindle and the transport-friendly form of the short story (and the novella) will help remedy this issue.
Anyway, that's just an opinion. Thanks for the video, David.
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