I’m going to use advice from people who, in addition to writing novels, have also spent plenty of time “interning” with short stories. While most of them are speculative fiction writers, I’ll also be looking at plain, old, effective short story writers. The advice will be in the form of one or several quotes off of which I’ll jump and connect it with my own writing experience. While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do most of the professional writers...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what I write. When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a point where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see! Hemingway’s quote above will now remain unchanged as I work to increase my writing output and sales! As always, your comments are welcome!
All advice is taken from Mr. Flynn’s blog, the link is below in References. Without further ado, short story observations by Michael F. Flynn – with a few from myself…
One of my all-time favorite authors is Michael Flynn. I’ve read most of his books, lots of his short stories, and I KNOW that he writes well. He’s been nominated for most of science fictions awards 86 times, he’s won eighteen times 11 different awards, including the first Heinlein Award, a Locus Award, a Prometheus Award, a Sidewise Award, a Theodore Sturgeon Award, and a Seiun. He’s been nominated for a Nebula twice, a Hugo nine times, and the John W. Campbell Award (recently renamed the ASTOUNDING Award) once.
One of my all-time favorite authors is Michael Flynn. I’ve read most of his books, lots of his short stories, and I KNOW that he writes well. He’s been nominated for most of science fictions awards 86 times, he’s won eighteen times 11 different awards, including the first Heinlein Award, a Locus Award, a Prometheus Award, a Sidewise Award, a Theodore Sturgeon Award, and a Seiun. He’s been nominated for a Nebula twice, a Hugo nine times, and the John W. Campbell Award (recently renamed the ASTOUNDING Award) once.
I’d like to quote a few things he says about writing short stories as well as tossing in my two cents as well (or FIVE cents if we get rid of pennies soon…)
“No one will read your story if it isn’t interesting. So one of the first problems of a fiction writer is to make his story interesting. It must be interesting to the writer (else he will not complete it) and it must be interesting to the reader…A story usually presents either a Decision to be Made or a Problem to be Solved.”
That’s an interesting thought. Hmmm…let me look at my most recent professional publications:
STUPEFYING STORIES Blog November 2020 – an article about a Problem
ANALOG SF Nov/Dec 2019 "Kamsahamnida, America" – short story about a Decision
NEBULA TALES MAGAZINE -- Sept 2019 "Cockroach, Gecko..." – short story about a Problem
ANALOG SF Sept/Oct 2019 "Road Veterinarian" – novelette about a Problem
OK – so usually I write problem stories. ANALOG seems to lend itself to the “Problem” type of story. It would make sense as Michael Flynn is a popular ANALOG writer.
How about my works in progress?
“A Quantum Echo at Taconite Harbor” – definitely a problem story…
“Cuyuna” – a problem plus a decision, though not on the part of the main character
“The Murder of Auto Tech #472369” – mystery – so a problem, but in the end a decision also
Flynn, who often writes subtle, thoughtful humor, talks a bit about getting a reader’s attention: “Now, if arresting the reader’s attention were the only quality for a title, every story would be entitled ‘Secret Sex Lives of Famous People’ or perhaps Bimbos of the Death Sun [Note: Sharyn Crumb, a multiple-award-winning mystery writer, DID write this book! Tongue in cheek. Nevertheless...] Indeed, William Sanders once quipped about a certain publisher that he was the sort who would change the title of the Bible to War Gods of the Desert. Michael Swanwick writes that the title ‘should suggest that something really interesting is happening in the story.’ The simplest way to do this is with a title that captures the essence of the story.”
I like “Quantum Echo”, though “Ghostly Echo” might be more intriguing. “Cuyuna” doesn’t interest me at all. The third story has the word “Murder”…that’s obviously interesting! Some of my other stories that sold? “Whey Station” – it was supposed to be a joke, by the same token, I have someone who says they’re a Hollywood producer interested in it…
Possibly the best story title I’ve ever written out of the following: “Warning! Warning!”, “Firestorm!”, “The Penguin Whisperer”, “Dear Hunter”, and “Road Veterinarian” was probably “Firestorm!”, an historical fiction story about the Great Hinckley Fire of 1895. “Road Veterinarian” was second, and “Dear Hunter” probably third. So I’m not TOO bad with writing story titles.
Then we come to the crux of the matter. Flynn wrote a post with the title, “Can a Plot Become Obsolete?” (here – warning: it’s a LONG read! http://tofspot.blogspot.com/2013/05/can-plot-become-obsolete.html#more).
There was a long, long list of “kinds” of stories. I was completely intrigued, and you can see my thoughts further down in the comments section. I (of course) picked the most difficult type of story. The end result was a story I LOVE. I’ve been looking for a market for it for some time and may have found one.
A sort of side note? I’ve changed the title of that story three times: “Into the Deaths”, “What Fraction Makes a Man?”, and now, the most recent incarnation: “Engineered Monsters”. OK, OK! The first one was sort of a joke; the second an (horrific) stab at being literary, and the third is actually a phrase OUT OF the story, so makes perfectly good sense and is a much more interesting title…so, there you go.
I’ll keep you posted!
References: http://tofspot.blogspot.com/search?q=Short+Stories
Image: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41JNnybcihL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
“No one will read your story if it isn’t interesting. So one of the first problems of a fiction writer is to make his story interesting. It must be interesting to the writer (else he will not complete it) and it must be interesting to the reader…A story usually presents either a Decision to be Made or a Problem to be Solved.”
That’s an interesting thought. Hmmm…let me look at my most recent professional publications:
STUPEFYING STORIES Blog November 2020 – an article about a Problem
ANALOG SF Nov/Dec 2019 "Kamsahamnida, America" – short story about a Decision
NEBULA TALES MAGAZINE -- Sept 2019 "Cockroach, Gecko..." – short story about a Problem
ANALOG SF Sept/Oct 2019 "Road Veterinarian" – novelette about a Problem
OK – so usually I write problem stories. ANALOG seems to lend itself to the “Problem” type of story. It would make sense as Michael Flynn is a popular ANALOG writer.
How about my works in progress?
“A Quantum Echo at Taconite Harbor” – definitely a problem story…
“Cuyuna” – a problem plus a decision, though not on the part of the main character
“The Murder of Auto Tech #472369” – mystery – so a problem, but in the end a decision also
Flynn, who often writes subtle, thoughtful humor, talks a bit about getting a reader’s attention: “Now, if arresting the reader’s attention were the only quality for a title, every story would be entitled ‘Secret Sex Lives of Famous People’ or perhaps Bimbos of the Death Sun [Note: Sharyn Crumb, a multiple-award-winning mystery writer, DID write this book! Tongue in cheek. Nevertheless...] Indeed, William Sanders once quipped about a certain publisher that he was the sort who would change the title of the Bible to War Gods of the Desert. Michael Swanwick writes that the title ‘should suggest that something really interesting is happening in the story.’ The simplest way to do this is with a title that captures the essence of the story.”
I like “Quantum Echo”, though “Ghostly Echo” might be more intriguing. “Cuyuna” doesn’t interest me at all. The third story has the word “Murder”…that’s obviously interesting! Some of my other stories that sold? “Whey Station” – it was supposed to be a joke, by the same token, I have someone who says they’re a Hollywood producer interested in it…
Possibly the best story title I’ve ever written out of the following: “Warning! Warning!”, “Firestorm!”, “The Penguin Whisperer”, “Dear Hunter”, and “Road Veterinarian” was probably “Firestorm!”, an historical fiction story about the Great Hinckley Fire of 1895. “Road Veterinarian” was second, and “Dear Hunter” probably third. So I’m not TOO bad with writing story titles.
Then we come to the crux of the matter. Flynn wrote a post with the title, “Can a Plot Become Obsolete?” (here – warning: it’s a LONG read! http://tofspot.blogspot.com/2013/05/can-plot-become-obsolete.html#more).
There was a long, long list of “kinds” of stories. I was completely intrigued, and you can see my thoughts further down in the comments section. I (of course) picked the most difficult type of story. The end result was a story I LOVE. I’ve been looking for a market for it for some time and may have found one.
A sort of side note? I’ve changed the title of that story three times: “Into the Deaths”, “What Fraction Makes a Man?”, and now, the most recent incarnation: “Engineered Monsters”. OK, OK! The first one was sort of a joke; the second an (horrific) stab at being literary, and the third is actually a phrase OUT OF the story, so makes perfectly good sense and is a much more interesting title…so, there you go.
I’ll keep you posted!
References: http://tofspot.blogspot.com/search?q=Short+Stories
Image: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41JNnybcihL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
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