’tis the season for writing short stories

I’m between novels at the moment. Thirsty Work is completed and on the publishing merry-go-round and my next novel Opprobrium/The City of Rubber Stamps isn’t yet underway, so I thought these past two weeks of holidays would present a fine opportunity for writing two or three or four shorter works. I’m happy to report that by today, day 15 of 16, I’ve managed to produce no fewer than four short stories (all under 3000 words), all of which have now been submitted to various competitions around Australia.

Writing at this length is pretty liberating, I’ve found. The short form allows you to try things that you wouldn’t dream of undertaking at novel length. For example, one of the stories I’ve written, “when the jellyfish rule the oceans”, is my take on future fantasy in the style of Jeff Vandermeer and, long before him, Brian Aldiss (especially his novel Hothouse). “jellyfish” features one young child, one technologically advanced robotic bird and one big dash of weirdness, including, you guessed it, a swarm of jellyfish. I wouldn’t dream of writing a novel containing these parts (I’ll leave that to Vandermeer), but at 2000 words, I’m game to try. I also found that using visual stimulus was actually helpful in dreaming up ideas, something I haven’t really found useful in the past. I set the image below as my desktop wallpaper while writing “jellyfish”. A cliff and those steps feature in the story.

My other stories were more quotidian, but hopefully no less fun to read. What started me off on the ‘visual stimulus kick’ was the image below, which is a photograph called Destroy (Sandman). The photo, and seven other visual stimuli, are part of the Albury City Short Story Award 2014. Looking at that photo, I dreamed up the seamy character of Rufus (the guy in the hat), who ended up being the main character in not one but two stories, “Enter Sandman” (which I’ve entered into that competition) and “X T Cee”. I was also listening to a lot of Metallica while writing these stories, something I haven’t done in close to twenty years. This is something I started doing fairly recently with Thirsty Work, in which I’d listen to a particular You Am I song, “Secrets”, before each day’s writing session. In writing “Enter Sandman” I listened to the Metallica song of the same name each day, but by the time I started on “X T Cee” I’d moved onto “Master of Puppets”.

The fourth and final story, which I completed today, is “Killjoy”, a dorky little crime story about a couple plotting to murder their next-door neighbour, with inconclusive results. I worked out recently that prior to these school holidays I’d written no more than seven stories in four years, almost all of which have now been published in some form or another, so it was gratifying to be able to complete these stories over this past two weeks. If a novel is like a baby (and it certainly is, the author its doting parent) then a short story is more like a relative you only see once or twice a year. It’s nice to catch up, have a beer, share a yarn and then get out of there. Short stories require less commitment on the part of the author, and when they are rejected or don’t win prizes it’s far easier to be sanguine about it. Novels, on the other hand…

 

The Completist – Authors I’ve Read Virtually Everything By

Ah, lists. I love ’em and periodically I feel the urge to produce another one. Here’s a list of the authors I’ve read (and probably own) nearly everything by, with some brief thoughts on each of them.

Megan Abbott 

She’s written six novels – I own and have read all six. My favourites are Queenpin and The End of Everything, but I like them all. I first encountered this author less than two years ago when I picked up a copy of her The Song Is You on a discount pile. I love discount piles.

J. G. Ballard

He wrote an awful lot, novels and stories, and I own and have read virtually all of it. Ballard had a profound impact on me at a crucial age (19-20), probably second only to Philip K. Dick in this regard. Ballard has definitely seeped his way into my writing subconscious. His essays are also extremely interesting – the man was nearly a genius. I recently read Extreme Metaphors: Interviews with J. G. Ballard 1967-2008 and was duly blown away.

William S. Burroughs

Burroughs published a number of little chapbooks and other ephemera, so I can’t claim to have read everything he wrote, but I have at least 20-25 of his books and I’ve read numerous biographies and both volumes of his letters. I’ve even read Here to Go, his collaboration with Brion Gysin. I must have read Naked Lunch 5-6 times by now.

Pat Barker

I’m fairly new to Barker, only having discovered her in the past 3-4 years. I very much enjoyed her Regeneration Trilogy and was especially enamoured with the recent Toby’s Room. She’s an outstanding writer and there are 2-3 of her books that I’m still yet to read. I tend not to like her contemporary stuff as much as those books set in WWI.

Raymond Carver

In fact I hadn’t read a word of him until earlier this year, so it didn’t take me long to read all his short story collections (except for some posthumous stuff) and a biography to boot. Terrible person, amazing writer.

Raymond Chandler

Without Chandler I might still shy away from crime fiction. I was enraptured by novels like The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely and The Long Goodbye, and I’ve read some of his novels multiple times. I never really got into his short stories. I’ve also read numerous biographies and a book of his letters.

J. M. Coetzee

Coetzee only barely makes this list, simply because there are 5-6 of his books that I haven’t read as yet. But I’ve read at least 10 of them and enjoyed them for the most part. I especially liked Disgrace and his trilogy of memoirs. Coetzee can be dry at times, but at his best he has no peer and he is the spiritual successor to Samuel Beckett.

Harry Crews

Most of the writers on this list are pretty famous, but Crews decidedly isn’t, not anymore. Dead and more or less out of print, Crews is nevertheless on a par with the likes of Cormac McCarthy and William Gay, in my humble opinion. I’ve never read a fiercer book than his dark masterpiece A Feast of Snakes.

Philip K. Dick

What can I say about him that I haven’t said already? I’ve published a 40,000 word long article on his work in Bruce Gillespie’s SF Commentary 83 and I dedicated years to reading everything he wrote and everything wrote about him. That adds up to a hell of a lot and takes up about two shelves in my study. PKD is my number one influence as a writer, by far.

Graham Greene

The best prose stylist of the twentieth century, bar none. There, I’ve said it.

Barry N. Malzberg

Another mostly out-of-print writer, Malzberg was one of my favourite SF writers a decade or so ago. I had a fairly extensive email correspondence with the man a decade ago as well. His best novels include Underlay and Galaxies.

Maureen McHugh

I very much liked her novel Half the Day is Night many years back, and now I’ve managed to assemble her complete ouevre, even if there are a couple of things I haven’t read.

James Tiptree Jr.

In actual fact a woman by the name of Alice Sheldon, Tiptree is famous for some amazing short stories written mostly in the 1970s. I’ve read virtually all of them. “Her Some Rose Up Forever” is among the best.

Jeff Vandermeer

Vandermeer is among beautiful stylist and author of numerous works, none better than his collection thingy City of Saints and Madmen. I’ve been following his career with interest.

Daniel Woodrell

Another writer I’ve only recently discovered, I discovered Woodrell on another discount pile in the form of his novel Winter’s Bone. I liked that plenty so I ordered everything else he’d written. Right now I’m very much enjoying his most recent novel, The Maid’s Version.

That’s fifteen writers I’m very fond of. Eleven of them are men. Eleven of them are Americans, three British and one South African. All of them are contemporary or near-contemporary. Chandler was born earliest, but Greene published earliest. There were a few others who didn’t quite make the list for one reason or another, such as Iain Banks, John Crowley, William Gay (haven’t read his stories), M. John Harrison, Jonathan Lethem (plenty more of his to read), Kim Stanley Robinson, Kurt Vonnegut, Irvine Welsh and Ma Jian (he’s only written about three books). And then there are Australian writers I like but haven’t read everything by, such as Garry Disher, Andrez Bergen, Simon Haynes, Paul Haines (I have read all of his), Bruce Russell, Kaaron Warren, and plenty of others.

So, which writers would make a similar list if you were to construct one?