Best Books on Writing Short Fiction?

Ophqui · Apr 14, 2013

Hi guys

Apologies if this has been asked before. I am looking for reference books on the writing of short stories, with exercises to do, advice on how to plot etc. I can find a lot of these for writing novels, but not many specifically for short fiction. Does anyone have any recommendations please?

Thanks in advance!

King Neptune · Apr 14, 2013

You probably would do best by going to a bookstore that has several such books and looking at them. I have found that most books of that sort say the same thingsin different ways. You might find one that says more to you than others, but it might not be the same one that someone else likes.

Jamesaritchie · Apr 15, 2013

What kind of short stories? One book seldom fits all genres. I would strongly suggest going to your local public library and checking out the .808 section. It's a good idea to read everything in it.

gettingby · Apr 15, 2013

Check out "Objective Lessons" by the Paris Review. It's pretty new. I am in the process of reading it myself.

victoriakmartin · Apr 15, 2013

I'd also be interested if there are any that people recommend. I find going to the bookstore and looking at them isn't really that helpful, since most of the books on the shelf probably aren't all that good, at least in my experience. Getting a rec would at least help narrow the search down a bit.

Jamesaritchie · Apr 15, 2013

victoriakmartin said:
Getting a rec would at least help narrow the search down a bit.

It still comes down to what kind of short stories. Without knowing the genre, it's hard to recommend a book.

Old Hack · Apr 15, 2013

My friend, Vanessa Gebbie, has won many awards for her short fiction, and edited the collection Short Circuit, which I've found really helpful. There's a new edition out soon (it might even be available now) which has extra material in it, so if you do buy it, make sure you get that one.

Niccolo · Apr 15, 2013

I recently read Stephen King's On Writing. A large part of the book is his personal history, more than I would have liked actually, but he does go through a section on writing short fiction. He discusses sentence structure, plot, backstory, how muchis too much, etc. I found a lot of it useful, even though a lot of the book is on how to write longer works.

Rufus Leeking · Apr 15, 2013

The 3 O'Clock Epiphany by a writing professor is wonderful for writing fiction. It isn't short more than novel, but structurally how to write scenes and push a story. It is basically exercises. I found it very very good- and the author was someone I thought so highly of that I bought his fiction; and I didn't like it. Those who can do?

shelleyo · Apr 15, 2013

I don't remember if there were exercises or not--probably not--but it's hard to go wrong with Creating Short Fiction: The Classic Guide to Writing Short Fiction by Damon Knight.

WriterBN · Apr 15, 2013

I'd also suggest just reading a lot of short fiction--different genres and styles. Literary magazines are a good source. I started out reading a lot of instructional books but they got in the way of writing

blacbird · Apr 15, 2013

I'll recommend the book that made me want to write short stories:

The October Country, by Ray Bradbury.

This volume contains one after another of the most astoundingly wonderful short stories ever written. And reading stuff of this sort is how you'll learn how to write short stories.

No short-story cookbook will do that. Read stories. Read a hell of a lot of 'em. Read widely, every genre. Get your bone marrow to understand how the best stories work, and why.

Read:

"The Lottery", Shirley Jackson
"Afterward", Edith Wharton
"The Nine Billion Names of God", Arthur C. Clarke
"The Wall", Jean-Paul Sartre
"The Gift of the Magi", O. Henry
"A Touch of Nutmeg Makes It", John Collier
"Everything that Rises Must Converge", Flannery O'Connor
"The Hoard of the Gibbelins", Lord Dunsany
"The Lagoon", Joseph Conrad
"Paul's Case", Willa Cather
"Wine in the Desert", Max Brand
"The Black Monk", Anton Chekhov
"The Horla", Guy de Maupassant
"The Snows of Kilimanjaro", Ernest Hemingway
"The Country of the Blind", H.G. Wells
"The Yellow Wallpaper", Charlotte Perkins Gilman
"The Tell-Tale Heart", Edgar Allan Poe
"To Build a Fire", Jack London
"The Open Boat", Stephen Crane
"Silent Snow, Secret Snow", Conrad Aiken
"The Rocking-horse Winner", D.H. Lawrence

. . . and a hundred others. Pay attention to what makes them work.

Then go write one better than any of them.

caw

Old Hack · Apr 15, 2013

I agree with Blacbird.

Jamesaritchie · Apr 16, 2013

Reading a thousand short stories is a must, but anyone who thinks how-to books can't help greatly is just wrong. They may not help YOU, but they sure help one heck of a lot of other writers.

Rufus Leeking · Apr 16, 2013

blacbird said:
Read:
........
"Everything that Rises Must Converge", Flannery O'Connor

Then go write one better than any of them.

caw

I just did. If the original poster has yet to write a short story it might be inspiring, but also intimidating. The book I suggested gives one prompts to write a scene. Then, while you're reading the greats, you can see how to string your scenes together. Until you understand the building blocks, and know how to create them, just reading may not be enough.

That said, reading other fiction, good or bad, helps very much.

phineas12gauge · Apr 17, 2013

Old Hack said:
My friend, Vanessa Gebbie, has won many awards for her short fiction, and edited the collection Short Circuit, which I've found really helpful. There's a new edition out soon (it might even be available now) which has extra material in it, so if you do buy it, make sure you get that one.

I second this recommendation, I have an older edition and love it.

Ophqui · Apr 20, 2013

blacbird said:
I'll recommend the book that made me want to write short stories:

The October Country, by Ray Bradbury.

This volume contains one after another of the most astoundingly wonderful short stories ever written. And reading stuff of this sort is how you'll learn how to write short stories.

No short-story cookbook will do that. Read stories. Read a hell of a lot of 'em. Read widely, every genre. Get your bone marrow to understand how the best stories work, and why.

Read:

"The Lottery", Shirley Jackson
"Afterward", Edith Wharton
"The Nine Billion Names of God", Arthur C. Clarke
"The Wall", Jean-Paul Sartre
"The Gift of the Magi", O. Henry
"A Touch of Nutmeg Makes It", John Collier
"Everything that Rises Must Converge", Flannery O'Connor
"The Hoard of the Gibbelins", Lord Dunsany
"The Lagoon", Joseph Conrad
"Paul's Case", Willa Cather
"Wine in the Desert", Max Brand
"The Black Monk", Anton Chekhov
"The Horla", Guy de Maupassant
"The Snows of Kilimanjaro", Ernest Hemingway
"The Country of the Blind", H.G. Wells
"The Yellow Wallpaper", Charlotte Perkins Gilman
"The Tell-Tale Heart", Edgar Allan Poe
"To Build a Fire", Jack London
"The Open Boat", Stephen Crane
"Silent Snow, Secret Snow", Conrad Aiken
"The Rocking-horse Winner", D.H. Lawrence

. . . and a hundred others. Pay attention to what makes them work.

Then go write one better than any of them.

caw

loads in that list i haven't read. Thanks for the recommendations!

Triplec224 · May 15, 2013

I'd suggest "Zen in the Art of Writing" by Ray Bradbury. He wrote an incredible amount of short fiction, and the advice presented in his essays is excellent.

maeV · May 22, 2013

Writing the Short Story: a hands on program
Jack M. Bickham

I also agree that understanding the scene is a good way to understand how to write the short story.
m

Best Books on Writing Short Fiction?

Ophqui

King Neptune

Jamesaritchie

gettingby

victoriakmartin

Jamesaritchie

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

Niccolo

Rufus Leeking

shelleyo

Just another face in a red jumpsuit

WriterBN

blacbird

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

Jamesaritchie

Rufus Leeking

phineas12gauge

Ophqui

Triplec224

maeV