tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post3530047331605470779..comments2024-03-29T05:18:51.551-04:00Comments on Patricia Abbott (pattinase): The Short Storypattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-30239499189157360192012-03-23T15:06:15.837-04:002012-03-23T15:06:15.837-04:00I prefer novels because they stick with me long af...I prefer novels because they stick with me long afterwards, yet while I say this, I can think of some short fiction that's been just as memorable: James Joyce's "The Dead," for instance, Annie Proulx's "Brokeback Mountain," or T. C. Boyle's "Killing Babies."Ron Scheerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15357501069513854664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-58433716289623894442012-03-23T11:42:58.246-04:002012-03-23T11:42:58.246-04:00shorts and novels are different experiences. I'...shorts and novels are different experiences. I'm not sure I'd consider them enough alike to use the same metaphor of a train ride. Short stories, at least when well done, are individual gems studied at close range with a jeweler's glass. Novels, when done well, are more like the Crown Jewels.Charles Gramlichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02052592247572253641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-23634347812534025692012-03-23T08:55:21.377-04:002012-03-23T08:55:21.377-04:00I like switching around. I have them piled up ever...I like switching around. I have them piled up everywhere and it is great fun to choose what to read every day.pattinase (abbott)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-46268245122004989622012-03-23T08:51:29.366-04:002012-03-23T08:51:29.366-04:00I'd rather read a good short story than a bloa...I'd rather read a good short story than a bloated novel any day. Jeff Meyerson got me into reading a short story every day. It's fun to work your way through a great writer's COLLECTED SHORT STORIES collection!Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04546161337366365635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-54154743072496216172012-03-22T22:39:22.231-04:002012-03-22T22:39:22.231-04:00With this reading one a day for a year, it has sto...With this reading one a day for a year, it has stopped me from doing that. I have perhaps a hundred collections sitting around and I just pick one up every day and read the one.pattinase (abbott)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-2845677893540874482012-03-22T22:36:25.406-04:002012-03-22T22:36:25.406-04:00I like them and read them. My problem is I often f...I like them and read them. My problem is I often finish one and simply charge on to the next one, without giving what I just read adequate consideration. With novels, there is always a day lag while I mull the book over. I guess I ust need to give myself a few minutes before I start the next story...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-21607435687963734332012-03-22T18:51:56.430-04:002012-03-22T18:51:56.430-04:00Nice points here. I always thought of shorts as a ...Nice points here. I always thought of shorts as a good segue from poetry. You learn to care about every word in both.pattinase (abbott)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-37649062885259744462012-03-22T17:53:00.753-04:002012-03-22T17:53:00.753-04:00Though short stories are short, I would argue that...Though short stories are short, I would argue that they should be read more slowly, more attentively than novels. Frenetic action is only one possible virtue of short stories. A better one is that each word, phrase, sentence in a short story is more powerful than any one word, phrase, or sentence in a novel.<br /><br />I would argue that it's easier to get a head of steam reading a novel such that you don't notice every sentence or paragraph. This is why writers say novels are more forgiving than short stories. I sometimes feel sorry that novelists have to write entire books when, depending on a section's overall pace, readers may just breeze through it.Gerald Sohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03571407711439433431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-38898801385106450822012-03-22T16:41:42.374-04:002012-03-22T16:41:42.374-04:00Well Todd, my wife would disagree with you. She h...Well Todd, my wife would disagree with you. She hates reading short stories (I've read at least one a day since August of 1995). Her reasons? She feels there is no time for character or plot development. Needless to say I disagree.<br /><br />Jeff M.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-50164160605119929592012-03-22T16:35:27.030-04:002012-03-22T16:35:27.030-04:00Oh, but there are utterly uncomfortable (and utter...Oh, but there are utterly uncomfortable (and utterly bleak) novels.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-23256058191498147652012-03-22T16:13:58.730-04:002012-03-22T16:13:58.730-04:00Short stories are more about effect--you can be so...Short stories are more about effect--you can be so much more daring, darker, etc. It's hard to get away with a completely dark ending in a novel.<br /><br />Not sure I like that train metaphor, because it reduces a short story to a rushed novel. Hmmm...<br /><br />Maybe it's like running a marathon vs. sprinting? Both take a different skill set. The novel has a comfortable feeling, where the short story has intensity.YA Sleuthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12371132883359264412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-73614985304317461102012-03-22T16:04:42.841-04:002012-03-22T16:04:42.841-04:00Short fiction usually deals with relatively few im...Short fiction usually deals with relatively few important changes, while the better novels usually deal with a few more, or how they effect more characters or characters through a longer period. Though even this is not universal.<br /><br />Short fiction has fewer words is often the only reliable truism about their relation. And it's usually easier to read short fiction in one sitting. <br /><br />I honestly don't understand anyone who denigrates shorter forms in favor of novels, unless they don't enjoy reading very much, find it a chore, and the necessary mental "stage-setting" is for them a difficulty...hence the megabook or open-ended series is less trying than the shorter work.<br /><br />One might as well hate songs and insist on only symphonies or opera or perhaps song-cycle albums. Disparage portraits for landscapes. But, then, those who dislike b&w film (still or movie) and crave only color similarly flummox me.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-28019523721267522252012-03-22T16:03:36.514-04:002012-03-22T16:03:36.514-04:00I think that a good story finds its own size to fi...I think that a good story finds its own size to fit. I've read a few short stories or novellas that were rewritten as novels and the puffing never works.<br /><br />In contrast to your quote I think that quiet contemplation works better in a short story. Some stories by Updike or Carver have no plots other than a character noticing or realizing something.Dan_Lufthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05096055160420981482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-66813200564865370452012-03-22T14:25:47.198-04:002012-03-22T14:25:47.198-04:00I like reading short stories so I usually try and ...I like reading short stories so I usually try and squeeze in a few between the three books I read at a time. They are mostly absorbing, they are quick to read, and they break the monotony of reading a full-length novel. I particularly like reading short stories by authors who have also written novels.Prashant C. Trikannadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16079354501998741758noreply@blogger.com