How I Came To Love the Short
Story
"On a Field, Sable" in the FREE
anthology Eternal Spring is my fifth published short story
and my third (of five) in 2012, but I kind of went backwards in my publishing
career. Most people in speculative fiction start out writing short stories and
progress to novels. I did it the opposite way, publishing seven novels before a
single short story hit print.
But I love them! In fact, if this were still the golden age of shorts and I
could make my living writing them (as F. Scott Fitzgerald once did, charging up
to $4000 for a single short story in the Saturday Evening Post) I might
leave the realm of novels altogether. There's something so satisfying to me
about writing short stories. I can experiment with format, style, and voice in a
way that isn't always sustainable for an entire novel. I can explore other
facets of a world I develop in a longer series, as I did in the "Secret
Stories" on my website that show the perspective of other characters
in my Secret Society Girl series, or all the "killer unicorn" shorts I've been
publishing in anthologies, that either show some of the long history of unicorn
hunting (as in "Errant", another free
online short, or "The Hammer of Artemis" in the anthology Cast of Characters).
"On a Field, Sable" is one of the latter. It's a story about Melissende,
who is a very unlikeable character in my novels Rampant and
Ascendant. But though she and the novel heroine, Astrid, constantly
butt heads (and occasionally cross swords), Melissende has her own reasons for
doing things. She's fiercely loyal to her sister, and more than a little afraid
that their mission will end up killing them. What drives a person like
Melissende, who isn't, by any stretch of the imagination, a "nice girl?" What
would it take for us to understand where she's coming from? Those are the
questions I tackle in this story. Writing it actually made me like Melissende a
whole lot more, which surprised me because she's usually such an antagonist to
my poor heroine Astrid. But, as they say, once you walk a mile in someone's
shoes...
And I'm not the only one who chose to explore a longer series in this free
anthology. There are several other authors who are giving us a taste
of what you can get in our longer works, like Stephanie Dray with her
ancient-Egyptian tale about Queen Arsinoe, and Amanda Brice, who returns to her
dancer Dani Spevak. If you're curious about our works or just looking for a
bunch of great short reads to entertain you between dips in the pool this
summer, you can't beat this free read!
And, I feel I would be remiss if I
didn't mention my other free short story out there: "Among the Nameless Stars"
is a free online prequel to my brand-new book, a post-apocalyptic retelling of
Jane Austen's Persuasion entitled For Darkness Shows the Stars. Check it out!
Great post, Diana!
ReplyDeleteI love reading short stories. Sometimes you don't have enough time to dive into a full-length novel, so a short is perfect.
I also love writing them, although I find them a lot harder than you'd think. It's tough to craft a satisfying story in a short word count.
Thanks for all the links to your other stories!
I loved On A Field, Sable. I also love you for mentioning F. Scott Fitzgerald. I'm obsessed with him and his wife Zelda lately. And I notice an interesting trend lately in the e-publishing world where novellas are starting to become more profitable ventures than novels...
ReplyDeletessshhhh. secret confession time: I got to read "On a Field, Sable" before ETERNAL SPRING even went to formatting. You all should be *really* envious right now ; )
ReplyDeleteThat said... Diana, I love how you state that a short story allows for exploration a full-length novel doesn't. That's a terrific point. And the voice and mood you've put together in "On a Field, Sable" is stirring and haunting and wonderful. And no, I swear I'm not a fan girl! Just cos I'm going to go download "Among the Nameless Stars" right now doesn't mean anything, truly.
Congratulations on such wonderful releases!!
I also liked Mellisende a lot more after reading this short story...I think this calls for some...dun dun dun..fanart.
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