STORYTELLING versus SHORT STORY WRITING

One of those three in the morning revelatory moments that no doubt all writers of short fiction already know...

Call yourself a storyteller, and people know exactly what you mean. They spark. Because it is in our psyche, listening to stories. It is deeply rooted, the need to share events, happenings, lessons learned through a drama.

Call yourself a short story writer, and they go all negative. What's that? Why aren't you writing a novel? The markets are so diverse, that there is no immediate understanding about what you do.

So I am a storyteller.

The only thing is... (and whether this is a feature of the 'academicisation' of writing, or whether it is a stylistic thing that would have happened anyway)...much of what is written is so impenetrable.

In story terms, impenetrable. So many flights of language, or flashbacks that drop the baton, or exposition rambles... that the flow of the story is lost.

Isn't that why 'voice' is important? Because stories are meant to be voiced. Either literally (in the telling) or in our own act of telling stories to ourselves, in our heads as we read?

THAT was the thought that came to me at three o clock. The best ones I've managed are the ones that have both strong voices and reveal themselves bit by bit in a clear 'listen to me' story style.

There are also ones that work rather like poems, in the rhythms of prose that are just lovely to listen to either really listen, or again, in your head.

But it all goes back into the mists of whenever. We're on a continuum, mustn't lose sight of the simple things.

I guess everyone knew that anyway. Duh.

Honest critiques are the best critiques

I was taught to critique work straight and honest. Never to say ‘I like this’ or ‘Er, this isn’t quite working but with a tiny bit of work I’m sure it would win something really big!”

And sadly, that’s what you get on so many places where writers gather.

I don’t want flannel, I want to be told how an intelligent writer/reader sees the piece. I want to know where it works for them, where it doesn’t, and I want examples, not generalisations.

THEN I can go back to the work and reappraise.

Just to prove a point: Recent comments among many on a story I'd written three years back, posted on The Workhouse, doing my ‘edit old stuff, tidy up and sub’ routine.

This comment was made about the voice:

“They all speak as though they're suffering from head injuries while navigating a second language, and the net effect is that there's a writer engaging in a kind of facile literary tourism”

Do I rush away to find a lace handkerchief and sob, vowing never to write again, or to give that person a bad review in return? (Oh yes they do... Ive seen this for myself on some very big workshops...)

FANTASTIC feedback! I almost danced round the study!

I do understand that many writers just don’t want this sort of feedback. Maybe when you are a very raw beginner, it could hurt feelings. And maybe, for those who are in this purely for ego, it might stop them writing… a dose of reality. At least that’s what I’ve had said to me many times by the ‘dress up negatives in cotton wool’ school.

It didn’t stop me.

But now I have a problem. In addition to the above, I have two critiques from writers who know about the culture and setting of the story far closer than I do. One found it poor overall. One found it good, but with some minor details wrong.

So in the end I have to do what all writers need to do with feedback. I will not rush around changing everything according to every item said, but I’ll listen to every comment with care, balance them and think, and rewrite in a few weeks time when it’s all had time to sink in.

And that voice will need work!

But also, people forget that the writer isn't the only person hopefully moving forward in this situation. The critiquer learns a huge amount...and I'm delighted if my stuff has been a good learning tool.

It's words. Not blood!

SHORT STORIES FOR GCSE???

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The Times reports today that

teenagers could soon be able to pass an English exam at GCSE level without having to read a single novel poem or play.

Read article HERE in Times Online

How does making kids plough through novel-length set texts when they don’t read, of their own volition, anything other than comics, leave them with anything other than a deeper abhorrence of reading?

Rather than just pull the plug, why don’t they try a few years of English GCSE based on set short stories?

You could argue that, in many novels, the prose is not as good as in a well-written short. So why…..



Discuss.

Essays to be handed in by next Friday.

Words from a Glass Bubble update

Wow.

Today I received the typeset proofs of my very own book. And I quickly discovered why books are bound. My printer printed out one hundred and seventy something pages and spilled them on the study floor in no particular order... very helpful!

It is an extraordinary thing, to hold something like this...a wodge of words, and they are all your own.

It did two things to my head... it made it more likely that I may at some point in the future, have a novel in my hands that is also mine. After all, if I can write this many pages... pah! But in truth, will the novel give me as much pleasure as I have had over the last few years? I doubt it. It's been quite a roller-coaster, and one can't live without ups n downs, can one!

But it also made me think... how very very lucky I am to have this collection coming out from Salt. How so many excellent writers specialising in the short forms of fiction never get to see this happen.

Maybe Salt and its faith in the power of the short form will engineer in part a turnround in the fortunes of those who 'only write shorts'.

I was having lunch with a friend today, and she asked how the writing was going. The conversation went like this:

"So how's it going then?"

"Good, at the moment. I have my first book coming out in March."

"The novel? Oh good!"

"Er.. no. That is a long way off! This is the short story collection."

"Oh right. So when do you think the novel will be ready?"

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It IS extraordinary. This friend had just been bewailing that her time for reading was very tight, and that she did sometimes buy short story collections, in order to read a complete piece before bed.

But it must be sexier to know a novelist, rather then a short story writer!
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However. I now have the job of going through the proofs with a fine toothcomb to see if there are typos and so forth. If there are it will be my own silly fault, for sending imperfect files through in the first place!