What's the most desolate, depressing, hopeless short story you've read?
I'm about to write a bleak one and want some inspiration. Thanks!
I'm about to write a bleak one and want some inspiration. Thanks!
Most depressing short story not written by S. Meyer
- Thread starter starrykitten
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I wrote a short story called Poverty House. It was about my childhood and I couldn't stop crying when I wrote it; neither could my sister. It did me good and got it out of my system. It sold quite well on Amazon Shorts as well.
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"The Yellow Wallpaper"
"A Rose for Emily"
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" - majorly depressing.
"A Good Man is Hard to Find"
"The Buzz Saw" not a short story but a poem. Still depressing.
"A Rose for Emily"
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" - majorly depressing.
"A Good Man is Hard to Find"
"The Buzz Saw" not a short story but a poem. Still depressing.
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I was thinking the same thing.
Even worse is a story that's not very good in a publication that keeps rejecting my work.
Haha, I forgot that those really are the most depressing stories--the ones we can't publish. And the bad stories in journals that reject us. And the terrible ones in Best American year after year. Oh, and our stories that get rejected even by journals that aren't that great.
I forgot that Snows of Kilimanjaro isn't exactly cheerful.
I forgot that Snows of Kilimanjaro isn't exactly cheerful.
I once read a science fiction story whose author I can't remember. I think the title was 'Cold'. It was about the eventual death of the universe, when all heat is going away, mankind is dead, and all that is left is robots (and they're losing power, too)...some guy goes into this future and then comes back with the expected psychological scars. Only story that ever really creeped me out--even Lovecraft couldn't give me that bone-deep, chilling fear.
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There was one I read recently, I forget the name, but it was about a woman who (basically) drinks herself into a stupor, because, at the end of the day, that's all she's capable of. Drinking herself to death.
*shudders* Ick.
*shudders* Ick.
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"Stella, cold, cold, the coldness of hell."
I agree with your choice and have suffered the same haunting!
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Took me some time to find it...but I think this short story published in The New Yorker is absolutely the most depressing story I've ever read. (And I've read most of the stories listed in this thread.)
My Parents' Bedroom by Uwem Akpam
My Parents' Bedroom by Uwem Akpam
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ROTFL!!!
Obviously you haven't read enough Aston West...
Might I direct you to my signature?
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I second "The Yellow Wallpaper." Also "Toga party" by John Barth and "The Swimmer" by John Cheever
Perhaps more thought provoking than depressing was Hemingway's offering of a 'Six word' short story:
'For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.'
'For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.'
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