One of the most delightful surprises of the year in our Novel Pairings Classics Club has been the enthusiasm for the return of Short Story Club. It’s probably no secret that English teachers (yes, even former English teachers) love short stories. Short fiction is an excellent way to introduce students to new voices, and stories are often dripping with the literary devices we English nerds love to unpack.
But short fiction can be a hard sell outside of the classroom. On the podcast, we’ve frequently bemoaned the fact that it’s difficult to pitch a reader on a story collection. Describing a novel can mean giving a plot setup, alluding to what sorts of characters you’ll meet, and sharing the overall tone of the book. All of those things are difficult, if not impossible, to discuss when explaining a story collection. On top of this, short stories can leave readers feeling frustrated either because they want more from the story itself or because they want to read more deeply into the text.
As we enter December and prepare for our discussion of Jorge Luis Borges story “The Garden of Forking Paths,” we wanted to offer a few habits and strategies that have served us well as readers of short fiction. We know that short stories can add so much to the reading life, and we want you to get the most out of these bite-sized reading experiences.
Look for short fiction from authors you already love. Many novelists also write short stories and seeking out shorter works from the writers you know well can be a seamless entry point into the form. This is also a low-risk way to try short fiction because you can often find stories from renowned authors for free (if you haven’t reached your article limit!) in places like The Atlantic and The New Yorker.
Experiment to find your short story reading rhythm. When beginning any new genre or medium, it can take some time to find the right rhythm. You may find you enjoy inhaling an entire collection of stories in a couple of days. Alternatively, you may need to space our your story reading by consuming one story a day over the course of a week or two. Perhaps you’ll find that anthologies work better for you than single authored collections or that you enjoy taking in short stories on audio. Play around until you find a format and rhythm that feels satisfying to you.
Ask questions as you read. The shorter the work, the more weight each of the author’s choices carries. Okay…that might be generalizing, but that mindset can be an effective reading framework through which to view short fiction. As you read, consider why the author may have made specific choices. For example, what impact does the title of the story have? How are specific words, character traits, and setting details impacting the themes of the story? One way to approach this is to play the game “how would this be different if…” How would this story be different if it were set in the past instead of the present? How would this story be different if the imagery were more colorful rather than bleak? Even if you don’t have answers, posing the questions themselves is an excellent way to get deeper into the story.
Pay attention to beginnings and endings. During and after your reading, consider where the author began the story and where they chose to end it. Did they drop you right into the action or provide some context first? How did the beginning of the story establish certain expectations for you? Does the story finish with a tidy conclusion, an ambiguous ending, or a twist? What impact does the ending have on the themes of the story? And why do you think this particular story is a story, not a novel?
Have fun with annotations. Marking up an entire novel can be daunting, but annotating a short story is a great opportunity to practice and play with annotations. Get out your favorite pens, pencils, highlighters, and tabs, and pretend you’re back in English class. Make note of standout word choices, shifts in tone, new characters, and allusions to themes. Jot down all of your question and observations in the margins. There’s no right or wrong way to do this; just have fun being nerdy!
Links
Rebecca Makkai’s Substack is a great source of public scholarship for readers and writers alike. In a recent post, she shared her theories on why so many readers “recoil” from short story collections (we have some theories in common!), why you really should read them anyway, and how to begin incorporating more short fiction into your reading life. She includes a slew of resources including her favorite anthologies, literary magazines, podcasts, and—of course—story collections.
Many readers shy away from short stories and authors are even discouraged from prioritizing them. In this Lit Hub article, author Daphne Kalotay explores why some of our greatest writers love short form fiction and what we readers can gain by prioritizing it.
A vending machine that dispenses short stories! We love this blend of whimsy, nostalgia, and public scholarship.
Ten years ago, Publishers Weekly considered why modern readers struggle with short stories and concluded, in part, that the attention they demand poses a challenge in our current multi-tasking era. We think the theories posited in this piece are more relevant now than ever.
We (probably) won’t be setting our alarms early enough for solitary morning reading until our babes are little older, but we can still appreciate and admire the idea of establishing a short story ritual like the one detailed here. Maybe post-bedtime with a glass of wine instead?
Every time Elizabeth McCracken writes about writing it’s a gift. Upon the reissue of her first collection of short stories, the award-winning author reflected on what she’s learned about the form, and what still baffles her.
On Patreon
We hosted our monthly lecture on Deconstruction Theory last week, and we had a lot of fun tapping into the super philosophical parts of our brains! If you would like to watch or listen to our lecture, make sure to head on over to Patreon and sign up at our Literature Scholar tier for access to our entire backlist of classes.
Final Notes
We hope you enjoyed today’s discussion on short fiction. Let us know in the comments below: what fascinates or frustrates you when reading short stories? We can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
Until then, we declare after all, there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book.
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