The Enigma of the Short Story
Dipping My Toe Back Into the Writing Form That Most Eludes Me
“We resist the notion that we’ll become mere handfuls of dust, so we wish to become words instead. Breath in the mouths of others.”
—Margaret Atwood, “Two Scorched Men”
“I would have written you a shorter letter, but I didn’t have the time.”
—Variously attributed
Dear Reader,
I am attempting to do what I swore I would never do again: write a short story.
Given that I spent all four of my college years reading, writing, editing, and work-shopping short stories, you might think I would have a decent grasp of their mechanics, but I do not. My brain operates in extremes—everything is either a poem or a novel. Most of the short stories I read leave me with a sense of incompleteness. They might be beautiful pieces of writing or compelling thought experiments, but they rarely feel like stories in the way that I define them: with characters that change profoundly from beginning to end. When a short story does deliver, it does so in the form of an emotional gut-punch that feels to me unlearnable. How can someone make their reader feel so much in so few words?
The majority of the short stories I wrote in high school and college I abandoned after the first draft. One exception, a story about a girl and her mirror, underwent massive revisions and was eventually shelved when I realized it was bringing me more frustration than fulfillment. I decided that short stories just weren’t for me.
A Quick P.S.A (PublicATION Service Announcement)
The summer of poetry continues! Later this month, a poem of mine will appear in the Summer 2024 issue of the Orchards Poetry Journal. I wrote “Upon Seeing an Unflattering Photo of Myself” this time last year, inspired by the breathtakingly beautiful hydrangeas in bloom all over New York City. Said hydrangeas are back and lovely as ever. No photo can do them justice.
I don’t have an exact publication date yet, so keep an eye out for more details in my next post!
What inspired me to try again? There are a number of factors. First, I have been reading more short stories in general. On Monday, I finished Margaret Atwood’s recent collection, Old Babes in the Wood, which features some poignant stories about death and aging.1 Second, I read the poetry collection The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison in which poet
draws inspiration from familiar folklore to cast an eerie light over modern living. Finally, on that same folklore theme, I’ve been watching Dimension 20: Neverafter, a season of my favorite Dungeons & Dragons anthology show (which I’ve written about here) that experiments with dark versions of some of the most iconic European fairy tales. All of this re-awakened my love of classic fables and urged me to play around with my own fractured fairy tale.2Fairy tales and folklore have always piqued my interest. I vaguely remember doing a unit on fairy tale parody back in elementary school. (I wrote about Rapunzel being bald—not particularly inspired, but it gave my friends and I a few good giggles.) As an adult, I remain interested in the stories we tell to children, especially those that end in morals. What are the consequences of reducing the world to neatly wrapped little lessons? What happens if you pull those threads just a little? These are the kinds of questions I want to ask in my writing right now.
Who knows if anything will come of it? I’m trying not to care about the end result. Play is such an important part of writing, and there’s no better sandbox to play in than children’s tales. Spring was a season of poetry for me. Maybe short stories will define my summer.
I’ll leave you with a few short stories that have stuck with me over the years, all of them introduced to me by amazing English and/or creative writing teachers. Please share recommendations of your own—I could use the inspiration!
1.) "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin 2.) "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner 3.) "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton 4.) "Bullet in the Brain" by Tobias Wolff 5.) "Bloodchild" by Octavia Butler 6.) "The Husband Stitch" by Carmen Maria Machado 7.) "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin
Thanks for reading.
Yours,
Jane
It also features the gem “Morte de Smudgie” in which a woman mourning her cat writes him into the leading role of Tennyson’s “Morte d’Arthur” with comically saccharine results. I read it just after writing the following poem about my thirteen-year-old Labrador and felt hilariously called out. (Feeling silly is a good headspace to be in when trying something you’re not naturally good at.)
I strongly feel that “fairy tale” should be one word, but spell check disagrees. (I also strongly feel that “spell check” should be one word, but spell check disagrees.)