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why i write short fiction

  • Oct. 23rd, 2007 at 7:56 PM
sf doctor who meant to be?
First off, since I am spamming lj tonight, Avery Brooks is going to star in Christofer Marley's Tamburlaine, as presented by the Shakespeare Theatre Company of DC.


Second, [info]truepenny, triggered by but tangential to the current death-of-short-fiction kerfuffle, is talking about what short stories are good for.

I have a theory. And that theory is that, more or less, the current SFF short fiction market is a club scene. It's where the experiements happen, the riffs, the fast-and-furious back-and-forth, the arguments, the bubble and boil. The churn, if you like.

Is short fiction essential to my career? Nope. Does it make me a lot of money? Nope. Does it get me a ton of respect? Nope. (Generally speaking. I think I write pretty good short stories. Actually, no, I take that back. I think I write damned fine short stories [I mean, other than the part of my brain that can only see what's wrong with anything I do, but we're talking about the realistic part of the brain now.]. And if they're not quite hitting the core-readership right, well, that's something to work on. OTOH, I am very, very happy about my BSFA short fiction nominations.)

So why do I write short fiction?

Because it makes me happy to do it. Because I do think a vital and exciting club scene is necessary to keep the commercial market alive. Because short stories, with their quick rate of turnaround, consist of a conversation that we can have without the three-to-five-year delay of the novel conversation. Because we're jamming, baby.
  • Mood: cheerful

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[info]mizchalmers wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 12:27 am (UTC)
I have a theory we should work this out.
It's getting eerie. What's this cheery singing all about?
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[info]jerusha wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 12:54 am (UTC)
It could be witches, some evil witches!
Which is ridiculous, 'cause witches,
They were persecuted.
Wicca good, and love the earth
And women power...
And I’ll be over here
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[info]masqthephlsphr wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 12:29 am (UTC)
Avery Brooks will be awesome; he's so obviously classically trained.
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[info]matociquala wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 12:29 am (UTC)
SRSLY.
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[info]cheshyre wrote:
Oct. 25th, 2007 12:25 am (UTC)
It's a whole Marlowe program -- they're also doing Edward 2nd, plus (one weeknight) a dramatic reading of Jew of Malta.

That's also where I'm going to see the Marlowe Symposium in a few weeks.

There are a number of Saturdays where it'd be possible to see both plays in a single day, if you can get away to DC for a short period of time...
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[info]ckd wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 01:18 am (UTC)
I so want to see an bald[1]-Trek-actors Shakespeare. Seriously. After all, both Avery Brooks and Patrick Stewart have played Othello. (The latter was cross-cast, obviously.)

[1] Visibly bald, Shatner. Visibly bald.
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[info]ckd wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 01:19 am (UTC)
Er, "a bald", not "an bald". That's what I get for not previewing after I reword things....
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[info]masqthephlsphr wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 01:26 am (UTC)
And bald Kate Mulgrew!
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[info]ellen_fremedon wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 04:33 am (UTC)
I saw Avery Brooks's Othello a couple years ago at the Shakespeare Theatre. Absolutely amazing.
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[info]fadethecat wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 12:53 am (UTC)
I write short fiction because I can wake up with an idea and have it completed before I go to bed. I don't have great staying power, but sometimes I can make something damn cool in twelve hours of staring grimly at the computer screen. And then I can put it online for feedback with no shame about how it's yet another story I'm never going to finish...

Publication of short fiction is one of those other things entirely, and I have no experience with it. But writing short fiction? I do it because I love having an image and being able to go from "This would be cool" to "Look at this, isn't it cool?" in under twenty-four hours.
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[info]matociquala wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 12:58 am (UTC)
I remember when I could write a short story in a day.

*whimper*
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[info]fadethecat wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 01:02 am (UTC)
I wish I could ever get a novel finished, so, er. Jealousy goes both ways?

(I'm not even trying for "published" yet. Or "good." I'd just like to finish something that's not fanfic and hits 100k, to show that I can.)
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[info]matociquala wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 01:04 am (UTC)
Hee. Yeah.

It does take stamina. I will not lie.
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[info]fadethecat wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 01:09 am (UTC)
Stamina, and focus! Now if only I could keep up both for stuff that isn't fanfic.
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[info]Chris Clarke [wordpress.com] wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 12:59 am (UTC)
Bear, you said "Is short fiction essential to my career? Nope." and I wondered if if it was important early on in your career, for building name recognition, bring ing you to the attention of editors and agents etc.
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[info]matociquala wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 01:02 am (UTC)
Actually, no. The vast majority of my short fiction career (and all but two pro sales) came after I was agented/sold a novel.

On the other hand, my few semipro sales were *very* good for my morale.
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(Anonymous) wrote:
Oct. 28th, 2007 08:02 am (UTC)
Well as Scalzi mentioned readers may not have found you via Asimov's but I would not have found you, and fallen in love, without Interzone.
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[info]matociquala wrote:
Oct. 28th, 2007 11:21 am (UTC)
Thank you!

See, there, go poke holes in my theory... ;-)
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[info]dsgood wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 03:14 am (UTC)
The old advice was to "work your way up the lengths." That no longer applies, and probably hasn't since the mid-1950s. Back when there were about thirty sf magazines (not all prozines by today's standards) and there were a couple of semi-pro publishers and a few books published by major presses.

Patricia C. Wrede tried beginning with short stories. Best she got (as I recall what she's said on rec.arts.sf.composition) was notes on the rejections saying -"This reads like the synopsis of a novel"- or -"This seems to be the first chapter of a novel"-.

The first novel she wrote sold. So have all the ones since. She can now sell short stories -- about half the time.

Some people are natural short story writers, and have real trouble writing novels. I know of one who makes a living at it -- mystery (mostly) writer Edward D. Hoch, who has a story in every issue of Ellery Queen, stories elsewhere every now and then, and a whole lot of collections bringing in royalties

Some people are natural novelists, and have problems writing anything shorter.

Some are natural novelette writers, and they have limited markets for what they do best. Some are natural series writers, and have real trouble coming with a first-in-series which can work as a stand-alone.
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[info]neutronjockey wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 01:21 am (UTC)
I've been giving short fiction and the current status of the short fiction (F/SF) markets some very.serious.thought. for the last 2-3 weeks...
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[info]sboydtaylor wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 02:38 am (UTC)
First: I've always wanted to see Tamburlaine performed.

Second: That's a pretty good argument about the major functions of Short Stories...

But I still remember the first time I read Harrison Bergernon -- and how, even though I thought the styling was clumsy and some of the words poorly chosen (for I was an uppity child in the 5th grade) -- I immediately had to write a response (called, of course, "Diana Moon Glampers").

I don't know if that means that you're right, or you're wrong -- but I've never felt the need to write a direct response to a novel.
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[info]matociquala wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 02:44 am (UTC)
*g* I write direct responses to novels... well, it's kind of what I do.

Not always, but often...
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[info]kateelliott wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 03:12 am (UTC)
Avery Brooks in Marlowe's Tamburlaine. Omigod.
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[info]matociquala wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 03:18 am (UTC)
I *know.*

Are you in your happy place?

I wonder if my friend in DC will put me up. *g*
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[info]matociquala wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 03:20 am (UTC)
They're also doing Edward II:

http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/plays/details.aspx?id=112&source=l
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[info]kateelliott wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 03:26 am (UTC)
I don't know Edward II. I do know Tamburlaine, as I used it in The Law of Becoming.

*still sighing*
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[info]matociquala wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 03:37 am (UTC)
It's good.
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[info]uilos wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 12:33 pm (UTC)
EEEE!!!! I totally have tickets to Tamburlaine and I had no clue Avery Brooks is in it. You just made my day.
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[info]matociquala wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 02:20 pm (UTC)
Hello my envy! *g*
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[info]uilos wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 03:27 pm (UTC)
Damn. I actually have tickets for Tamburlaine later in the year and I'll be seeing Taming while the lovely Mr. Brooks is in the next theater over at the same time. Grr.

STC had a deal with season tickets for stupid cheap if you are young (ie, less than 35) so a number of us got a group of seats and I can't keep track of which show I'm going to when.

And, um, I know you totally don't know me from any other random person on your blog and all, but I have this couch and Metro access to DC so long as you're not cat allergic...
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[info]matociquala wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 03:29 pm (UTC)
Hee.

I'm up to my neck in life and work right now, or I swear, it would be worth it to come down for the twofer.
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[info]oracne wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 12:52 pm (UTC)
Mmm, Avery Brooks. [slurp]
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[info]e_underwood wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 01:43 pm (UTC)
I've always thought of short fiction as a writer's laboratory environment where experimentation leads to new and interesting discoveries that can be used to strengthen literature as a whole.

But, now that I write it down, it sounds a little stuffy. ;-) In short, short fiction is my sandbox and that's where I like to build things and play with my friends.
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[info]matociquala wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 02:45 pm (UTC)
Stuffy.

But accurate. *g*

Good sandbox.
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[info]ellen_fremedon wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 08:55 pm (UTC)
I just scored a free ticket to the Tamburlaine preview this weekend! I so win.

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[info]matociquala wrote:
Oct. 24th, 2007 09:07 pm (UTC)
I am Envy. I cannot read, and wish all books burned.
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