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 as I work to increase my writing output and sales! As always, your comments are welcome!
Without further ado, short story observations by Ken Liu – with a few from myself…
Ken Liu began publishing fiction in 2002. His first published work was "Carthaginian Rose", a short story on mind uploading. Liu has said he wanted to become a writer so he could make stories that ‘turn values upside down and inside out to gain new perspectives’.” I also found out that he’s married with two kids – and that they homeschool their kids. (Which is what we did…both are now extraordinarily successful in their chosen careers…)
But REALLY: what makes him so popular? Googling with the question, “How is Ken Liu so publishable?”, I need to point out that not ONLY is he publishable, he has MULTIPLE translations of his own writing, as well as translating Chinese SF, THE THREE BODY PROBLEM (Cixin Liu) into English.
What is it then – and could I replicate ANY of it? The above search produced quite a bit of information (from several sources): “He has a… ‘multidisciplinary background, prolific output, rigorous work ethic, and mastery across multiple linguistic and creative domains.” He has…‘.worked as a software engineer at Microsoft, a corporate lawyer, and a litigation consultant before writing full-time. ‘His technical and legal background infuses his speculative fiction…with deep, realistic mechanics regarding engineering, governance, and culture.’ As well, ‘He maintains a steady, disciplined approach to drafting new material and consistently produces short stories, novels, and translations.’
OK…I have zero experience in the technical…of course, I was in my first year of college when he was born in 1976. I was born in 1957; pretty much the same year as “real computers”: FORTRAN launched; IBM announced it would ditch vacuum tubes and introduced its first commercial transistorized calculator (the 608); Engineer Russell Kirsch created the first digital image scanner scanning a 176x176-pixel picture of his infant son. (see it here: https://nistdigitalarchives.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/singleitem/image/p16009coll19/1541/default.jpg); AI pioneers Simon, Shaw, and Newell created the General Problem Solver (GPS), an early computer program designed to mimic human problem-solving. But should that matter? Isaac Asimov was born barely out of the Stone Age, and look what he wrote!
Liu observes about writing itself, “I’ve always loved telling stories. I think we, as a species, are persuaded more by stories than facts and figures, for both good and ill.” But why SHORT stories? I started with short stories, and after my behemoth MARTIAN HOLIDAY (at some 234,000 words), I’ve started to come back to short stories. Liu has a great observation on that, “…(difference between) epic fantasy and short stories?
It’s the difference between architecture and miniature painting.
What doesn’t change, however, is my voice.” So, I continue to struggle with this whole idea of voice. What IS my voice? What is “voice”? According to Google: “In short fiction, it’s the specific way words are put together…making…a story feel like a living person is telling it to you, rather than a machine. It’s the personality of the person telling the story. first-person, third-person stories. It’s also how people in the story sound when they talk and think. (This one is perplexing and I’ll need to think about it) It is the hidden fingerprint that stays the same across all their different stories. Finally, it’s the details the writer includes.”
What is Ken Liu trying to “say” in his writing? “Across his short stories and his Dandelion Dynasty epic fantasy series, he explores how people build meaning, adapt to new systems, and bridge cultural divides.” But even deeper than that, “…he takes everyday figures of speech or emotional states and makes them literal physical realities in a sci-fi or fantasy world. He views storytelling as the primary tool humans use to make sense of the universe and map out their lives.” “On writing short stories, Liu notes that while novels require heavy, structured scaffolding and external plotting to sustain interest, short stories can survive and succeed purely on voice, a single resonant image, or an emotional exploration.”
What am I trying to say with my stories? That’s something I’ve been exploring for several months now. I’m not sure even Liu knows what he’s trying to say – someone else is saying what they observe. But is that what he’s TRYING for? My life as a kid was hemmed on every side by “athletics” – basketball, football, hockey, fencing (mom), track, baseball, track and field, and all the “stuff” that went with them. I hated all of those, but found I loved biking (for miles and all over), swimming, and camping…but they weren’t enough of “sport” to engage the family. All that to say that I think that I’ve been trying to show through my writing that “Find what you’re good at, and embrace those who will celebrate with you, then ignore the ones that can’t see it for what it is to YOU.”
Maybe. I’ll be exploring those more, so I’m creating a new category: What Am I Trying To Say?
References: https://www.writers-online.co.uk/how-to-write/how-i-write-short-speculative-fiction-by-ken-liu/ (2020); https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/liu_interview/ (2014) https://catherine-bateson.com/ken-liu-from-short-stories-to-an-epic-fantasy-quartet/ (2026); his first story that was nominated and/or won multiple SF/F awards: https://gizmodo.com/read-ken-lius-amazing-story-that-swept-the-hugo-nebula-5958919
Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhK6miXJMTMNyB3kzq-r6I2LVCTZJj0CDS0dPV2Qapl6e9rZPuHx2u5QKcKT1QGeDg1_tPMv-lpnuSr_eiBjwPXmex9mcgtuH2-SUtZEpGWV0_HdtJQelVt5K69NulJBUqNju5GNjHgQibXsIo4NeWpTOj4ai85jCRjMHOtwtkqshzxFvZPUSjXZNq6=s320
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