Short stories: a love letter
October 27, 2011 § 4 Comments
I have an embarrassing admission to make. Several actually. The first is that until recently I generally thought short stories were dull and only good for English textbooks. I didn’t even realize that short story markets existed outside textbooks and if you’d asked me if I’d ever read an anthology I would have had to find a dictionary. The second embarrassing thing is that the only reason I started reading short stories is because I wanted to write short stories, and the only reason I wanted to write short stories was to get the practice was to publish a novel. I have since learned the error of my ways.
Why I love to read them:
A good short story is like lightning in a bottle. It packs a punch with a clear theme, a lot of character, and no wasted words. I love that when my life feels too busy to tackle a novel, I can pick up one of my anthologies and read a short story before bed with no obligation to read the next day. Often these short stories leave a bigger impact on my than most novels. « Read the rest of this entry »
