IN PURSUIT of SHORT FICTION PERFECTION

By Raegan Teller

\In a blog post I wrote nearly three years ago, “In Praise of Short Fiction,” I committed to honing my short fiction skills. While also publishing two more books in my Enid Blackwell series during this period, I diligently began studying this short form of writing. As a result, I’ve learned a lot and have been exposed to some wonderful short fiction writers and their stories.

Recently, I attended a virtual event hosted in Cork County, Ireland, “In Praise of the Short Story.” Three renowned Irish writers discussed the difference between writing novels and short fiction. I took pages of notes, but one nugget stuck with me: novels expand meaning; short stories concentrate meaning. But how does one achieve concentrated meaning? I wanted to learn more.

As a result, I began studying George Saunders. His story “Sticks” is the epitome of concentrated meaning. Last year, I read a collection of his stories, but the most valuable information on short fiction is in his latest book, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. Saunders is a professor at Syracuse University, and reading this book is like sitting in his classroom. He uses translated Russian short stories by Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, and others to teach short fiction. Saunders instructs the reader on what makes each story work and how it’s done. All the stories have universal, timeless themes. But it is Saunders’ analysis of each story that makes this book worth reading.

One of the best chapters in his book is “The Heart of the Story,” which contains this quote by Saunders: “To write a story that works, that moves the reader, is difficult, and most of us can’t do it.” Later in the chapter, he goes on to discuss some of his earlier stories. “I had chosen what to write, but I couldn’t seem to make it live.” These comments reflect on his earlier struggles with the form and how he eventually found his short fiction voice. His comments were both sobering and inspiring.

In his chapter “The Wisdom of Omission,” Saunders quotes Anton Chevkov: “The secret in boring people lies in telling them everything.” Saunders reiterates that learning what not to include in your story is just as important as what you do include. It’s a lesson I revisit again each time I write short fiction.

Saunders’ book is not an easy read. In fact, I’ve read portions of it dozens of times to understand his teachings. Of one story, “Alyosha the Pot,” Saunders proclaims it “perfect.” Ironically, Tolstoy himself didn’t like the story, calling it unfinished. I can’t claim to know a perfect story when I read one, but I do know this: some stories stay with me long after reading them. Like all good short stories, this one brims with concentrated meaning, forcing the reader to keep processing it. If that means “perfect,” then I agree with Saunders.

As for me, I’ll likely never reach Saunders’ level of perfection. But I’ll keep trying.

A PROFOUND PARAGRAPH IS A WORK OF ART

By El Ochiis

The great writers begin their stories with a killer hook which migrates into distinct blocks of text which section out a larger piece of writing – paragraph(s) —making it easier to read and understand. These blocks of text aid readability, setting the pace of the narrative, generating mood and helping to make characters three-dimensional.

“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago — never mind how long precisely — having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul...” Herman Melville, Moby Dick

There are some major strategies that those writers used to create compelling opening paragraphs - They can help you too: Create a mystery; Describe the emotional landscape; Build characters; Bring the energy; Start with an unusual point of view; Dazzle with the last sentence and Set up the theme. Melville has used at least six of them in his prelude to Moby Dick.

A scene can be constructed in any number of ways – it is up to the writer to break it down to the most dramatic effect – managing content.

“Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know. I had a telegram from the home: ‘Mother passed away. Funeral tomorrow. Yours sincerely.’ That doesn’t mean anything. It may have been yesterday.” Albert Camus, The Stranger

How a writer’s narrator sounds and thinks affects the rhythm and even the design of the paragraph – amplifying voice:

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Everything was in confusion in the Oblonskys’ house. The wife had discovered that the husband was carrying on an intrigue with a French girl, who had been a governess in their family, and she had announced to her husband that she could not go on living in the same house with him.” Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

A paragraph can set mood; Ask yourself, is mine introspective and thoughtful, or hurried and staccato? The length and type of the paragraphs can maintain or change the mood in a scene:

“The future is always changing, and we're all going to have to live there. Possibly as soon as next week.” Douglas Adams, Hitchhikers Guide

“It was a pleasure to burn.” Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

"Take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder and sieve it through the finest sieve and then show me one atom of justice.” Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

A writer’s first line should open up a rib cage. It should reach in and twist the reader’s heart backward. It should suggest that the world will never be the same again. Then, remembering that paragraphing is more an element of individual style than of grammar, and, it’s you who’s in charge of what a paragraph should do or what shape it should take, think holistically: What preceded this moment, and what must happen next.

We know that we can’t write like Tolstoy, Bradbury, Adams, Bronte, Baldwin or many of the other prolific scribes, so, how can we learn to create great openings, transporting them into even greater paragraphs? Well, a piece of advice that I hold dear was that motivation runs out pretty soon once we get to the nuts and bolts of the grind, but discipline, on the other hand, is about doing the task no matter what. Read and listen to the masters, then sit yourself down and write every chance you get – because, as Jodi Picoult said, “you can edit a bad page but not a blank one.” How will you orchestrate your story, using the paragraphing techniques above?

MEMOIRS ARE HOT

By Sharon May

Memoirs are hot as evidenced in the number being published. How to write one is an even hotter topic in writing communities as evidenced by the number of seminars, classes, and conference sessions offered to help us all cash in. I’m sure all of the presenters have excellent advice to offer, and for some of us, interaction with other writers motivates us to continue writing as well as improve what we have written.

But too often presenters or instructors, and their audiences, want to talk in “rules” or “steps” as if writing a memoir can be a simple task if we just do what is suggested. Now, a would-be memoir writer can buy a template online. The promises of fill-in-the-blank memoirs reminds me of textbooks designed for developmental or remedial composition students in which students would find lines labeled with each part of the essay designating the exact order of the ideas. The students loved them, but they don’t lead to creativity or individuality.

The rules are selected arbitrarily depending on what worked for the presenter. Yes, another writer might find something useful in the rules, but I’d bet an Alaskan goldmine that those rules will not work for every aspect of your writing task.

One rule I heard recently was in a memoir authors should not start with or discuss their birth as one would in an autobiography. This may be useful in many memoirs, but if the circumstances of one’s birth is crucial to understanding the author’s life or struggles, then important aspects of birth should be included.

Reflection on one’s life is essential in a memoir so it’s simply not autobiography. Some “how to” guides suggest that a certain percentage of the text should focus on reflections as if the book is like a pie to be divided up amongst the parts. I agree that reflection is crucial to give meaning to the events, but I don’t think the measurement of how much is included is nearly as important as the quality of the ideas and helping readers connect the experiences to their own lives.

Placement of reflection is often discussed in that many suggest that readers expect a thesis-like statement early in a section or chapter to reveal the point. It seems that the reflection could work well at the end of the section since many of us don’t discover the point until we have explored and written about the events. Yes, in revision, we can create a thesis statement to be included early, but I don’t think it’s always necessary to do that. Readers can follow the path of discovery along with the author as it builds to the end.

I do think guidance from others who have written memoirs is a vital way to learn, but sometimes the best memoirs break the rules and are formed organically in the author’s writing task.

SERIALIZING for FUN

By Kasie Whitener 

In this week’s episode of Write On SC, we talked about serialization. To “serialize” is to release your story in smaller chunks for the purpose of building an audience willing to purchase the entire work. It’s at once marketing and production.

Classics like The Count of Monte Cristo and Uncle Tom’s Cabin found readers through serialization. At the time, publishing a single volume was really expensive and many readers couldn’t afford to collect books by purchasing them. So, publishers used serials—magazines, journals, even newspapers—to reach a wider audience.

Additionally, authors building an audience didn’t have the advantages of social media and internet followers we have today. Publishing a taste of the work was a way to prove your skills not just to readers but to would-be publishers as well.

Authors like Hemingway and Capote leveraged serials to introduce work that had not found favor with their traditional publishers; work the publisher didn’t want to publish in its entirety, didn’t want to take the risk on, might appear in a magazine or other periodicals. Authors have used serials to try new styles, new genres, and other risky efforts that publishers worried might alienate the existing reader base. But it’s also a low-risk audition for the author. Readers who enjoy the periodical can find the author within its pages and decide to pursue additional work.

Recently, Amazon launched Vella, a serialized deviation of Kindle Unlimited. Its specifics are reader-friendly: subscribers receive a certain number of tokens, can audition the first few installments for “free” and then spend tokens for future installments. The specs are less friendly for writers. This article breaks it down.

First, you cannot publish anything there that’s already been published elsewhere. That self-pubb’d novel that hasn’t gotten any traction? Nope. Second, you can’t put up anything that is freely available elsewhere. That novel you put on your personal blog that’s gotten four visitors in the last 30 days? Nope. Third, you cannot publish the book elsewhere without first removing it from Vella. So, when a publisher falls madly in love with your characters and wants to traditionally publish your amazing work? Nope.

These rules aren’t that different from what we know of competing platform Wattpad. Publishers don’t want to see your work on a “free” platform like Wattpad before they get to revise, edit, pre-sale, and market the hell out of it. Most authors who have serialized work on Wattpad have done so knowing the piece would never be published elsewhere.

So why give your work away?

Maybe because you’re building an audience. Maybe because you’re not sure where the work is going. Maybe to get real-time feedback. Maybe to be part of a creator community. Or maybe, just maybe, because your pre-teen daughter loves Wattpad and can’t read your actual adults-only books. So, you put this up there for her. Like I did.

Check out The Full Moon in Neverland. My effort at serialization available now and free to a good home via Wattpad.

WHERE TO FROM HERE?

By Bonnie Stanard

I’ve been preparing comments to make when presenting a scholarship at a high school awards ceremony at Pelion (where I graduated many years ago). The students of the Class of 2021 are looking ahead to college, jobs, and hopefully careers. I can’t recommend that a student take up writing (or any art) as a career. Artists have historically depended on benefactors to survive. Even today, to succeed it is more important to know the right people than to be talented.

In any case, there are those of us who call ourselves writers based not on the number of books we have written or sold but on the hope that we will make a difference to some reader somewhere. And for myself, I can say that my books make a difference to at least one person, and that’s me. Each book has been a learning experience. Each one has forced me into uncomfortable emotions. I have grown not just emotionally but intellectually. Research for writing historical fiction (17^th Century France, antebellum South) has made me appreciate the adage that the past is a foreign country.

As an aside, I’ve noticed that we criticize our ancestors based on expectations of the present with little notion of the cultural and moral differences that separate us from them. A hero is not a hero today if they don’t conform to the sensibilities of the 21^st Century. But that’s another story.

We writers have inherited meaningful books that have prompted us to look at ourselves. It’s no exaggeration to say that our culture has been changed by gifted writers. Jane Austen pointed out that patriarchy is oppressive (it’s taking a long time to sink in). Charles Dickens told the world of child labor and abuse of the poor. Dostoyevsky questioned our view of morality. H.G. Wells gave us a guidebook for imagining the future. Mark Twain, notably a humorist, took on politics.

It takes genius to be as clever as those authors, but that’s not to say our writing doesn’t affect readers for better or worse. Even romance, sci-fi, mysteries, or whatever, they have moral moments. It may be one sentence. It may be the tone.

Some contemporary writers have made their priority entertainment at whatever the cost. The resulting plot lines go from erotica to mayhem to retribution to violence. What of worthwhile values? What of conscience and justice? I’m not talking about polemics as a plot, not about what we “ought” to do. I mean novels that surprise us with courage, honesty, and toleration.

Our attitudes and values are daily shifting in directions based on what we see, hear, and read. In what direction are we going? Will our writing cave to trivial expectations? Will it throw light on destructive trends? Will it give readers a reason to look around and assess what is going on with our world?

Back to the awards ceremony. I’ll ask the students to look about themselves. What have they contributed to their safety and convenience? Did they make the shirt they’re wearing? Sew a seam or button? Make the chair they’re sitting on? Build the house they live in? Did they hammer a nail? Saw wood? Install electricity or plumbing? Did they make their iPhone, Twitter? What have they actually done to bring about virtually everything they use, need, and enjoy?

The answer of course leads us to the realization that we are indebted to the people who came before us. Some of them were creative and hard working and brought about the many things we easily take for granted. Some of them were destructive and left ruins in their wake.