I wonder this more and more. I grew up writing them--spontaneously. I just sort of expressed myself that way. These were mostly adventure tales then. In college, I took writing classes. At Iowa, no less. (I grew up in Iowa, that's why I went there. It also happens to have one of the most mythologized MFA programs in the country). They teach you to write short stories there.
So...I have a bunch of stories I've written. Some are, in my opinion, not bad. Even good. I have recently, finally put some effort into trying to publish these. The results so far are not encouraging.
But...a bigger question. What's the point? Who reads short stories? Who reads these literary journals aside from people who also want to get published in them, because they also went to a school like Iowa for undergrad or for their MFA? If the stories I'd written were good enough to publish, then why not? But...it's clear I'd have to put a lot more work into getting better at this genre. Is it worth the labor? Might I be better off writing something easier, that more people would appreciate? Like...stand-up? Like, TV comedy (if I could get into it). Songs? Plays? Novels? Comic books? And, yes, blogs. That's partially why I'm writing this blog entry.
I don't know. Maybe I just need to keep trying to get hired at 'The Onion.'
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3 comments:
I completely understand where you're coming from, Mike (both on this and on the rejection topic from earlier). I for one do read short stories. It's my favorite literary form, actually--I think they require a lot of discipline to write and not much discipline to read, so it's a double-win for the reader.
Have you read many Latin American short stories? That's kind of my pet genre. You might try some Borges or Cortazar, or my special friend Angelica Gorodischer (although it's hard to find her in translation--I translated one of her short story collections for my MFA thesis).
You are inspiring me to get off my ass and get back to marketing my writing. It's the suck part of the job, that's for sure. Do you want to make a little accountability club together or something? Like...we could make a pact to send out x number of queries per month, rejection be damned?
Aprille
Hmmm...I kind want to wait until I get all responses back on the story I sent out in January before I send out more. Also, I'm heading into the period of the semester (in grad school, part-time) when school becomes my end-all, be-all. A pact probably wouldn't mean much from my end right now.
This might sound like a cop-out. However, I do think it's worthwhile to know others are out there trying. So...keep me updated on your marketing efforts, and I'll do the same. Awareness/competition might do as much as a pact. I'm trying to assemble a portfolio of 10-15 solid stories from which to draw. So, hopefully will be sending out more.
Also, as a counterweight to the downery-ness of this original post--I do see the simple act of publishing a story as worthwhile, regardless of audience size. At the very least, it's a potential stepping stone (to, for example, publishing a novel or short story collection) and a validation.
I still want the Onion gig, though.
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