I sometimes like these questions of the week because they
make me think about things I’m not normally inclined to think about.
You’d imagine I’d be inclined to think more about short
fiction, considering I do write the stuff, and one of the complaints I get
about my shorts is that they should be longer. Like, they should be novels. So
clearly this is a subject I need help on.
I love what my blogmates have said!! And Marcella, you were
so smart with your eye picture. You don’t need the whole cat! This makes me
realize I tend to approach my shorts like a miniature cat. Not just the cat’s
eye – I try to get the whole cat in there, but tiny.
It is not a mini-cat. It is not! Not not! *pause for self
flaggelation*
A friend of mine once told me what you need in a short story
is a turn, a change in perspective, where things look one way in the beginning,
then you look at them harder, and they’re a different thing in the end. That’s
kind of a literary formulation, but I really do like it for a short of any genre.
It is advice, also, that I don’t follow. And should. The goal is smaller. More
modest.
It is about a small goal! Not a big panoramic and
multi-faceted goal! Small goals can be big in their own way. *pause for
self-criticism in mirror.*
A lot of times I blather on about how I love writing short
pieces because you can explore something more risky without investing a whole novel
to do it. Or, write about
characters people might not be wild about. But just writing this, I realized
that is a mini-novel approach.
