Hello readers! As I've mentioned before, I have a great group of peers in my MFA program at USF. One of them is Allyson Hoffman, a Michigan native and fellow fiction writer. I've been lucky enough to be in a bunch of classes with her and exchange work with her over the last year. She's also involved in everything and is always putting on readings and events! She's awesome.
Anyway, I'm always so impressed with the breadth of everyone's knowledge in class (especially since I feel like a total fiction newbie), and when I heard Allyson give a presentation about linked short stories, I asked her if she wouldn't mind contributing to the blog!
With no further ado, a post by this week's guest blogger, Allyson Hoffman!
As an MFA creative writing student, the getting-to-know-what-the-heck-I-do conversation with family and acquaintances goes something like this:
Anyway, I'm always so impressed with the breadth of everyone's knowledge in class (especially since I feel like a total fiction newbie), and when I heard Allyson give a presentation about linked short stories, I asked her if she wouldn't mind contributing to the blog!
With no further ado, a post by this week's guest blogger, Allyson Hoffman!
*
As an MFA creative writing student, the getting-to-know-what-the-heck-I-do conversation with family and acquaintances goes something like this:
“So you’re a writer. What
do you write?”
“Fiction.”
“So you want to
write novels?”
“Something like
that.” And then I smile,
wondering if I should elaborate more.
I do want to write
books, but not necessarily novels, because I want to write books built out of
stories, stories that stand alone and can be read alone, but when ordered and
packaged together become something bigger. These stories might have different
narrators, or might be set in different places, or might take place in
different times.
The phrase I use
for this is linked short stories, though other folks call them short story
cycles or novels in stories. The emphasis, I think, in all of these is the word
story.
I had the pleasure
of first studying linked short stories in a workshop taught by Dr. Susanna
Childress at Hope College. The course was devoted to linked short stories, both
reading and writing them. I spent hours crafting my stories, reading and
re-reading the assigned texts.
Two years later, I’m still obsessed
with linked short stories. As a reader, I love how I can peer into the corners
of different houses, live the lives of many characters, and see what characters
really think about each other. I love events that take place in one story and
the consequences that result in other stories. For example, in Jennifer Egan’s collection A
Visit from the Goon Squad, characters make choices as young adults that
affect their lives later on. Although this may sound vague, it’s often difficult
to offer examples of this without giving away spoilers!
As a writer, what
is most exciting for me is that the links among the stories vary. Some
collections are linked by place or by a family. Others are linked by theme,
with no overlapping characters at all.
Recently, I gave a
class presentation on Lauren Acampora’s The Wonder Garden a collection of
stories linked by a small suburb of New York City called Old Cranberry. The collection
was well-received by critics, but as part of my preparation, I wanted to know
how everyday readers felt. I wanted to know how the everyday reader would
connect with this kind of book. On
Goodreads and Amazon, the commenters were kind but confused. They did not
understand why the book went in so many directions. Some cited frustrations
because they wouldn’t have picked up the book if they had known it was a series of
stories. The consensus was that the writing was good, but the readers would
have preferred a novel.
Such comments
surprised me. I loved The Wonder Garden. I loved the
messiness of the characters, how impossible and stubborn and frustrating they
could be. I loved that the final story did not wrap up every thread, how I knew
the characters were still beating along in Old Cranberry with their messiness.
So my latest
revelation—and this really is a revelation—is that not every reader wants to read
linked short stories. I haven’t identified why, but I imagine it has something
to do with reader expectations. To be fair, none of my favorite collections say
“linked short
stories” on the cover or back cover. Some don’t even use the word
“stories” at all. Perhaps this is for publishing
and marketing purposes. Maybe readers feel more welcoming of a book that
doesn't have unfamiliar or literary-sounding language.
I challenge readers
who haven’t picked up a collection of linked short stories before to do so with
an open mind, free from expectations. Below is sample of some of my favorites,
including one I recently wrote a review for on newpages.com. Happy reading!
- Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout
- A Visit From the Goon Squad—Jennifer Egan
- Drown—Junot Diaz
- The Things They Carried—Tim O’Brien
- Love Medicine—Louise Erdrich
- The Wonder Garden—Lauren Acampora
- The Suicide Club—Toni Graham
- Love in Theory—E. J. Levy
