‘My attention span had gone out on me; I no longer had the patience to try to write novels. … I know it has much to do now with why I write poems and short stories. Get in, get out. Don’t linger. Go on.’
‘Every great or even every very good writer makes the world over according to his own specifications.’
‘It is his world and no other. This is one of the things that distinguishes one writer from another. Not talent.’
‘Isak Dinesan said that she wrote a little every day, without hope and without despair.’
‘”Fundamental accuracy of statement is the ONE sole morality of writing,” Ezra Pound.’
‘It is possible to write a line of seemingly innocuous dialogue and have it send a chill along the reader’s spine – the source of artistic delight, as Nabokov would have it. That’s the kind of writing that most interests me.’
‘That’s all we have, finally, the words, and they had better be the right ones, with the punctuation in the right places so that they can best say what they are meant to say.’
‘I like it when there is some feeling of threat or sense of menace in short stories.’
‘I made the story just as I’d make a poem; one line and then the next, and the next.’
‘V.S. Pritchett’s definition of a short story is “something glimpsed from the corner of the eye, in passing.” Notice the “glimpse” part of this. First the glimpse.’
‘The short story writer’s task is to invest the glimpse with all that is in his power. He’ll bring his intelligence and literary skill to bear (his talent), his sense of proportion and sense of the fitness of things – like no one else sees them. And this is done through the use of clear and specific language, language used so as to bring to life the details that will light up the story for the reader. For the details to be concrete and convey meaning, the language must be accurate and precisely given. The words can be so precise they may even sound flat, but they can still carry, if used right, they can hit all the notes.’
Raymond Carver, Fires, Vintage 1989
So who is Raymond Carver?
Raymond Carver, in full Raymond Clevie Carver, (born May 25, 1938, Clatskanie, Oregon, U.S.—died August 2, 1988, Port Angeles, Washington), American short-story writer and poet whose realistic writings about the working poor mirrored his own life. – Encyclopedia Britannica
I see the interest in writing short stories. I actually like a project that takes a while to complete. Then, I don’t have to keep coming up with new ones!
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you’re right. it’s very tough having to come up with new ideas all the time for stories and poems. some of us are marathon runners and others of us are sprinters. i prefer the short sprint 😉
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I much prefer short form writing. It’s completely different to writing a novel. Often it’s what you don’t say that conveys the meaning. The reader has to work harder, they don’t get everything handed to them on a platter, and for that reason I think short stories can be much more engaging.
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exactly Katia. i agree with you totally. takes a particular skill to be a good short story writer.
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Thanks for following my blog. I really enjoyed the article.
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glad you liked this post. thanks for commenting.
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Short stories can be also chapters. Like in my book. Mediterranean man.
Coming soon…
Moses Rab. Israel.
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yes, Moses, short stories can also be chapters of a book. two of my books, The Crystal Ballroom and The Usual Story are a collection of self-contained chapters, also known as a novel-in-stories. not an easy thing to do. congrats on your book Mediterranean man.
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