  Short Stories
This week: Edited by: Mavis Moog  
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Welcome to The Short Story Newsletter, hand prepared for you by Mavis Moog .
This is essential reading for anyone who writes or reads, er.. short stories. |
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Hello everybody.
This is my first newsletter and I only had a few hours to prepare it, so please be gentle with me.
I am English, and I use "ou"s and double letters, it's just the way we spell- or should that be, spel?.
I live in the Derbyshire, Peak District, which is just over the hill from where the Brontes lived and a little south of the Lake District where the poet, Wordsworth saw his daffodills. It's not very far north of Stratford, which is where the great bard, himself, kept his wife. It seems that all writing talent, neatly avoided my area; so maybe I'm the one!
I am particularly fond of descriptive writing and list such luminaries as, J.G. Ballard, among my influences. Hark at her! While I may only dream of great literary success, I have taken a teeny step on the road to discovery.
I have just published my first book of short stories. more than 20 fictional tales, set in real places, now sit snugly between glossy covers, with my picture on. Oh how delighted my dear old Dad would have been!
He was an amateur writer and the first book, about writing, I ever read was one he bought in 1937. It's called Short Story Writing for Beginners, by H. B. Aldrich. It sits on my desk now, still in its original dust jacket, as I write.
The first words of this ancient tome are, "There has been a great increase in the popularity of short stories. Books of short stories are to-day (sic) a feature of almost all publishers' lists, which is a very good indication of the trend of public taste."
Apparently, things have changed. There is not a literary agent in business, who welcomes books of short stories from anyone unknown. I know because I wrote to most of them.
The Guardian newspaper recently reported that there has been an upsurge in the popularity of short story books, but maybe literary agents don't read the Guardian.
Now, that's not a helpful way to start a newsletter about short stories, is it? How am I going to lift your spirits?
Just remember the old song, "They all Laughed." by George and Ira Gershwin:
"They all laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round,
They all laughed when Edison discovered sound.....
They all said we never could be happy,
They laughed at us but how,
Who oo oo, Whose got the last laugh now?"
You see, I believe in the short story. It is a form that has delighted readers for centuries. From Aesop in his olive grove, through Geoffrey Chaucer and Hector Hugh Munro (Saki, to you), to D. H. Lawrence and Will Self, the short story is essential - quite literally.
After all, anyone can burble on for reams and reams. It takes self discipline and talent to boil it all down to the essence of good fiction. Good short stories are perfect snowflakes of literature. Each word and idea serves a purpose and the whole is pulled into crisp focus.
In this day and age of Print On Demand technology, we can bypass the agents and go straight for the reading public. It's a lot of work, though, so be prepared to employ your own proof readers and interminable meetings with PR men, but at least it's possible now.
I raise a glass to a new era of literary endeavour. I hope you'll join me in encouraging all the excellent short fiction on this site, and wherever you find it.
Love
Mavis Moog |
These are some of my all time favourite stories on this site:
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There are many more which, if I'd had longer, I would have listed here. So look out for my next newsletter (next month) for a fuller list.
You are, of course welcome to pop into my own short story folder, but I warn you - the book's better, and self publicity can never be trusted!
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I have a question for you all to ponder.
How important is plot to a short story? Is it possible to have an excellent short story with little, or no, plot?
This will be the subject of my next newsletter; so get scribbling (or tapping) and let me know what you think. |
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Short Stories: July 20, 2005 Issue [#510]
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