PBR and Rejection Slips ~ Gina Frangello on “Why The Short Story?” A Conversation Among Writers
Gina Frangello answers fellow conversationalist Vanessa Gebbie’s question about whether or not writing the short story is training ground for the novel. While Gina’s latest book is a collection of short stories called Slut Lullabies, her first fiction work (besides editing projects,) was My Sister’s Continent, a novel. (Begs the question: What came first, the novel […]
The Long and The Short of It ~ One Writer’s Training
We were out at our house in Mount Carroll, Illinois for a quick turnaround weekend away. Mount Carroll is a small town just ten miles away from the Mississippi River, a quiet place where we try to step out of our city lives. Where we try to slow down. So there I was in my […]
Is the Short Story Training Ground for the Novel? Vanessa Gebbie says “No.” Er, “Yes.” Er, “No – Yes.”
A short while back Vanessa Gebbie posed a question to our writers in conversation, and now it is time for her to answer her own question. Vanessa? I do get a bit tired of hearing that the short story is a ‘training ground’ for the novel? Is it? I posed this question initially without really […]
Gerard Woodward on the “sagging, ungainly corpses” of bad short stories
Gerard Woodward has picked up the thread of our conversation and provides us with his response to Vanessa Gebbie‘s question “Is the short story training ground for the novel?” It is an interesting juxtaposition to Dennis McFadden‘s answer earlier. Gerard: I have a playwright friend who says he gets very annoyed when people apply to do […]
“The Grand Symbiosis.” Dennis McFadden on training…
In the last installment of “Why The Short Story?” our conversation among writers, Vanessa Gebbie asked us to consider whether or not we thought the short story is training ground for the novel. Here then, is Dennis McFadden’s response: Dennis: Is the short story a “training ground” for the novel? Unquestionably. Undeniably. Until the cows […]
“The Words, When They Come Right, Are Mine…” Vanessa Gebbie on “How the Short Story?”
Our partner in conversation, Vanessa Gebbie, just returned from holiday. Well-deserved her time off, I think. She’s been scribbling madly for our blog, as well as continuing on with her own, adding new bits and pieces almost daily. Among the news on Vanessa’s website is mention of her book Words From A Glass Bubble having […]
Secrets Revealed, the Code is Cracked: How the Short Story
I have this friend Michael Delp, a writer from Northern Michigan. His latest book is a loving, funny, and sometimes disturbing collection of short stories called As If We Were Prey, published by the scrappy and very fine Wayne State University Press. Delp is a bit of a hermit, preferring fish and water to people […]
How The Short Story? “…hours of drudgery…” says Dennis McFadden
Dennis McFadden answers his own question “How The Short Story?” with thoughts on creativity and hard work, pimple-faced student teachers, Dennis Lehane, artists, and craftsmen. “Diamond Alley,” a gorgeously written and deeply affecting story of the murder of a popular local girl (from McFadden’s collection Hart’s Grove) has just been chosen for The Best American […]
“How The Short Story?” Gerard Woodward says “…it starts with memory”
Gerard Woodward “has an instinct for the kind of brimmingly charged image that short stories depend on…” says The Guardian. As part of our ongoing Conversation Among Writers, Gerard takes on the question: “How The Short Story?” Gerard: I think it starts with memory. In fact, I think everything starts with memory, even the present […]
Gina Frangello on “The Curious Alchemy of Writing”
Once he had answered “Why The Short Story?” Dennis McFadden asked us, his fellow writer-conversationalists, “How The Short Story?” (Sorry, Delp.) Gina Frangello, author of the collection Slut Lullabies, wasted no time in providing an answer. Gina: How the short story? Dennis has posed this question to the group: Do you decide to write a […]