Since beginning my new Reading Matters group at the Palace Theatre, my attitude to fiction has changed - that's it, five weeks, and a new world has opened up. In the group we read short stories and poetry. It's down to me, as the group 'lector' to choose the stories. And here's a confession; short stories and I have never got on. I have always found them unsatisfactory - a bit like eating a canape rather than a three course dinner. Just when you're all settled down into the story, it ends.
Now I see that short stories are actually a wholly different genre, and that they have huge potential for a different type of writing, and learning, by a writer. I'm learning all the time from the group's response to what we read. As someone pointed out on Thursday, a short story can dwell simply on atmosphere, it can tempt or amuse or distract or educate or just immerse the reader in a moment. A novel, being a much longer journey, is a different kettle of fish altogether. It's a settling down, between reader and writer, for a long-distance ride. A short story, being one stop along the way, can be much bolder or brasher or funnier or dreamier. The reader won't get worn out because there's no time. What freedom!
No comments:
Post a Comment