

What Ails the Short Story - gabriel
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/books/review/King2-t.html

======
cstross
King called it, IMO. This phenomenon isn't restricted to lit. fic.; it applies
to the genre categories too.

It's a progressive death spiral. Mass market fiction magazines don't pay
enough to justify the time spent writing a story -- because their circulation
and readership is declining. So short fiction has become the domain of people
who don't write for money -- like poetry: once a respectable paying niche in
newspapers, and now little more than a hobbyist field curated by a handful of
scholars. And then you get the curious aridity King notes, an airlessness in
the room, as the stories being published chase an audience of readers
motivated by something other than entertainment.

~~~
look_lookatme
I like him calling out writing for writers (or scholars) to a degree. I read a
lot of short stories and it's really hard for me to continue reading when the
protagonist is a short story writer, or something to that effect.

If you want to read a great collection of short stories, go pick up
"Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned" by Wells Tower. It's a fine debut.

~~~
dantheman
Another great set of short stories is Salinger's 9 Stories
([http://www.amazon.com/Nine-Stories-J-D-
Salinger/dp/031676772...](http://www.amazon.com/Nine-Stories-J-D-
Salinger/dp/0316767727/)). I believe he is still writing, just not
publishing... hopefully one day he'll release these unseen works.

~~~
wallflower
If you are in NYC and appreciate the art of storytelling, The Moth is bar none
the best storytelling franchise around. Unlike some of the other short stories
referenced here, the stories are all true and frequently amazing.

If you aren't, their podcast has a selection of stories recorded from their
live performances. I subscribe to their podcast so if I ever feel the need to
be entertained while bored, I can listen to one of their superb storytellers.

"The novelist George Dawes Green did that himself when he founded the Moth in
1997. His intention was to bring to New York the storytelling traditions of
his native Georgia, with audiences drawn to the tales like moths to the light
on a rural porch."

[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/nyregion/thecity/16moth.ht...](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/nyregion/thecity/16moth.html)

<http://themoth.org>

Racontuer: a person who excels in telling anecdotes

~~~
dantheman
Excellent, next time in NYC I'm going try and check that out. Listening to a
story now.

Thanks,

------
russell
I guess it's my fault. I'm a science fiction novel fan: character development,
story, action, society building, and ideas. In a short story you only get one.
And as soon as you get attached to a character, setting, or idea, bang it's
done. For a lot of people even a novel isnt enough. They go for 2000 - 3000
page mega-novel spread across 3, 5, 10 volumes.

~~~
DarkShikari
Many authors seem to solve this by putting many stories in the same universe;
if they like a setting from a short story, they continue it in more stories,
and perhaps novels.

The Man-Kzin Wars series is an example of this run amuck: dozens of authors
publish stories set in Niven's Known Space universe through this collection.
They're an absolute joy to read and a great way to be introduced to many new
authors.

------
jlc
A related, interesting read is Michael Chabon's intro to the 2005 Best
American Short Stories, reprinted in his essay collection _Maps and Legends_.

[http://www.amazon.com/Best-American-Short-
Stories-2005/dp/06...](http://www.amazon.com/Best-American-Short-
Stories-2005/dp/0618427058/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243781095&sr=8-1)

[http://www.amazon.com/Maps-Legends-Reading-Writing-
Borderlan...](http://www.amazon.com/Maps-Legends-Reading-Writing-
Borderlands/dp/0061650927/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243781110&sr=1-9)

His argument is, basically, that Modernism (here meaning the
Joycean/Chekhovian "epiphany" story) has damaged the short story, or at least
that it has played itself out, and that the old-timey plotted, adventure story
looks fresh again.

But really, as others have mentioned, commercial short story markets have been
in decline for 60+ years. Science fiction magazines are one of the last
holdouts of the pulp era, and they're not all that healthy (commercially).
This is making (has made?) general short fiction more like poetry. That ain't
_all_ bad. One upside may be that as commercial short fiction declines,
writers and readers may be less inclined to think plotted short fiction == bad
fiction.

Anyway, there is still a lot of quality contemporary-ish short fiction out
there. If you like short fiction, you will certainly like some of it: Denis
Johnson, Lorrie Moore, Alice Munro, Matthew Klam, Arthur Bradford, George
Saunders, T.C. Boyle, and on and on and on.

------
tconfrey
The article's more than 18 months old. So while its interesting its a bit
dated. I'd like to know what Mr King thinks now and how he feels the short
story has fared since '07.

My personal belief is that the short story, and maybe even the poem, is on the
verge of a comeback based on the rise of the eBook in Kindle/iPhone format. I
think soon we'll see business models whereby its reasonable for an author/poet
to sell an individual short story or poem. And that people will pay to read
them on their phone or eReader.

OTOH I'm biased since short form is the sweet spot for my textflows
technology!

