My short take on the short story

 Once again, I have been very remiss with my posts on Type M. There is so much rapid-fire news and chaos in Canada, the US, and the world that I am continuously distracted. And when I can tear myself away from that, there's always taxes to complete.

But in moments between these distractions, I have two short stories to write. Although earlier in my career, I have written over thirty short stories for various publications, I haven't written one in ten years and I am very rusty. But in the past couple of months, I've been invited to submit to two separate anthologies, so have been sharpening up my pencil. Literally, since I write first drafts by hand.

While scrubbing the rust off, I reminded myself of several guidelines that helped me in the past. I'm not a big believer in rules or "how-to" guidelines. In writing, everything is possible and what works for one person or one story won't work for another. That said, I offer the following "rules". Many of them are quite effective for novels as well.

First, a short story has to be tight and focussed. No wandering off into subplots or meandering flashbacks. You have to create a vivid, powerful story in a very few words so it's important to make each word and each paragraph count. You have to capture the crucial three pillars of a story – setting, character, and storyline –  in a few vivid pen strokes. To help keep the story focussed and tight, I prefer to have the whole story unfold in the same one or two settings in a short space of time. Not three months, sometimes only an hour. I keep characters to a minimum; only those that have to be there to tell the story.  I try to keep pure, static description to a minimum. Combine description with action that propels the story forward, and capture both character and setting in a few vivid, crucial words rather than detail. E.g., colour or style of hair is not important in itself; make it reveal character.

Luckily a lot of the overwriting can be fixed in rewrites. Be ruthless with the editing pen. Do I really need that word or sentence? Is there a single word that conveys the same thing with more punch? What is harder to fix is an overly complicated plot. I've found short stories don't lend themselves to the classic whodunnit structure. There isn't time to have a sleuth running around uncovering clues, following red herrings, and juggling suspects. There are too many characters and it's very difficult to make them distinct and vivid enough to engage the reader. In the hands of a very skilled short story writer, it's possible, but the result can feel emotionally flat and contrived. Most of my short stories have a whodunit element, but often there's also a thriller element too.

When I write novels, I'm mostly a pantser. The story evolves as I write it. But I find with a short story, I need to know the outcome and the basic premise before I start. If I start writing without knowing where I plan to end up, the writing is exploratory and unfocussed until I get an ah-ha moment and can settle down to serious writing. The process is still organic in that I discover things about the character or add in some extra twists and conflict as I go along, but I'm writing towards the goal. 

Here's one last observation. POV is very important to any story. I find a story (or scene) is more powerful and more engaging when the reader is drawn into a character's head.  Head-hopping distances the reader from the acton. In my novels, I often have several POVs but never within the same scene. In a short story, I find a single POV works best. It keeps me focussed and working forward. It allows for internal monologue and perspective. It can be first person or third person, whatever works for that story.

So far I have managed to write one of the two short stories and am working on the second, due next month. Once I get feedback from the editors, I'll have a better idea whether my technique for writing a short story worked, or whether I have to get out the rust remover again.

Who's Awed by Virginia Woolf?

I read Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse twice this fall, once alone and once with a class of high-achieving Advanced Placement students. I was wowed the first time I read the book, but taking a second look –– reading it to teach it –– forces one to take a closer glance under the hood, so to speak. This is particularly good for a writer –– the chance to study a master at her craft.

Now I’m a huge Virginia Woolf fan. Among the things she does fascinatingly well in the book is her manipulation of the point of view. And, yes, I use the word manipulation intentionally. The full-omniscient point of view allows her to accomplish things (in only 209 pages) that us mortals simply cannot achieve. One is the book’s ending: Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision. The writer in me (and the teacher) asks how the sentence changes if you switch the verb tense. Have had is past perfect. Something happened before something else –– a brilliant way to conclude a novel about feminist themes. What is to follow? What will come next? And this speaks to the book’s precision.

Point of view is where many writers begin when they settle into a project. I’m working on the second draft of a book that took far too long to write. The point of view was a struggle. I wrote the first 30 to 50 pages three times, using three different points of view. Finally settling on one that felt right –– present tense, first-person.

My friend (and former professor) Rick Demarinis, author of The Art and Craft of the Short Story and numerous novels, used to say when a scene is going nowhere change point of view. He used this as a way to jump start a piece of writing that seemed to have no energy. One thing he did was to take a random (or seemingly random) photograph of people in interesting states and write a scene about it. If the scene was a dud, he’d change the energy of the scene by writing the same story from the point of view of another character in the photo.

Here are two pictures. (Since deleted.)

Think about how the scene changes depending on whose perspective you choose and whether you use first-, second- or third-person point of view. Give it a try.

And read Woolf’s To The Lighthouse.

Lessons from my 7-year-old

My daughter Keeley (the youngest of my three daughters – Delaney and Audrey are the other two, hence the pseudonym) gets off the bus each day, and the same conversation ensues. 

Dad: How was school?
Keeley: GREAT!

What was great about it? Well, she's a first-grader: everything. New books make her smile. Getting an addition problem correct draws a fist-pump. Playing sharks and minnows in P.E. is something she talks about. And art class leads to lots of after-school stories.

Shouldn't we all go through life this way? I'm teaching an independent study this semester, working with a young woman who will surely be a novelist one day, and we're reading Rick DeMarinis's The Art and Craft of the Short Story. In it, Rick stresses the writer needs to be alive, to be awake, to drink in all of life's details. Keeley sure does that.

There's more, though, I think. When asked what it takes to be a writer, I never hesitate: empathy is my answer.

Empathy – the ability to walk in another's proverbial shoes – is the No. 1 requirement for anyone looking to take up the writing life. Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day. The boarding school where I live and work celebrates MLK Week, offering students different speakers and other opportunities to learn about diversity and social justice each day this week. I took Keeley to the opening event, an hour-long presentation about who MLK was and what he accomplished. Three times during the session Keeley broke down in tears. Her best friend is an African-American girl. "It should be equal," Keeley whispered to me, when I asked why she was crying. "I want it to be equal."

How does it feel to be African-American in the U.S.? I can't know. I can ask. I can read. But at the end of the day, I'm a middle-class white male with a master's degree. Privileged for sure. Characters in my books often discuss racism, sexism, or oppression. I think about those issues, and my characters talk about them. Now, I'm writing from the perspective of a female protagonist. This means I play the role of a female US Customs and Border Protection Agent for a couple hours a day. What is it like to be a female in a male-dominated, militaristic profession? I try to imagine it. What's it like to have men treat you a certain way? In essence, what's it like to not be a middle-class white male in my society? I'm privileged, I know, but writing pushes me to look beyond my boundaries.

And, as my 7-year-old daughter (the real Keeley) can tell you, that's a good thing.