I have a really cool character.
No big deal, right? Every author has an entire list of cool characters, stories, settings, or what have you, only some of which he or she will ever actually get to writing.
This particular character, by the name of Lathaan (sometimes “Lathaan the Unholy”), is sort of my Conan. By this, I don’t mean that he’s a carbon copy of Howard’s famous barbarian (though he is a very old school sword & sorcery character). Nor do I mean that he’s my “signature” character. (If I have one, at such an early stage of my career, it’d be Corvis Rebaine, but I expect that’ll change as I publish a wider variety of books.)
What I mean is that, in addition to being a very S&S character, Lathaan is my “Conan” because he just screams out for the same sort of presentation that Conan (or Solomon Kane, or a dozen others) got:
Short stories. Not novels.
(Yes, Howard did write a couple of Conan novels, but they were later in the process. For the bulk of his career, the barbarian made his home in places like Weird Tales magazine.)
If there’s one thing about the current publishing environment I lament more than any other, it’s the loss, at least on a relative scale, of the short story. There was a time, the era of the pulps, when the short story was the primary home of genre fiction. Now, I don’t want to go back that far–I’m a novelist, first and foremost, and a novel-reader, first and foremost–but I would like to go back to the short story being a well respected second.
I’m not sure exactly when it changed, but pinpointing a precise date really isn’t necessary. What I do know is that the relative quantity of genre short fiction markets that pay at a pro level is a fraction of what it once was. And most of those that do exist aren’t really interested in the classic (I’m sure they’d say “tired”) forms of the genre, such as S&S. (I give major kudos to the few publications, like Black Gate, that are not only interested in but focused on those; but they’re so few and far between that they’re closed to submissions as often as not, and the competition to get in while they’re open is brutal.)
The state of short fiction in anthology form is no better. It’s no secret that those tend not to sell very well, and they’re becoming ever less common as a result, despite the efforts of imprints like Tekno to keep them going.
So back to Lathaan. I have a character with an interesting (and, I’d like to think, moving) background, a reason for being who and what he is. A character with an entire arc, up to and including his world-changing death. The world in which Lathaan exists is, I think, actually a more interesting one than that of any of the novels I’ve yet written (including those not yet published). And I’ve got enough Lathaan short stories, at least in concept (though I’ve only written two so far) to fill an entire anthology of my (and his) own.
And odds are good nobody will ever see any of it, just because of the format. Am I being stubborn, insisting on short stories for Lathaan rather than novels? I dunno, maybe; but that’s the shape his stories have taken, and the shape that really seems to work.
So, here are my questions for the audience this week. Do you buy short fiction? If so, do you prefer anthologies or ‘zines (be they maga- or e-), and how would you suggest increasing the short fiction market? If you don’t buy/read short fiction, why not? What would it take to get you to start?
I still read short fiction when I can. I’ve got an issue of F&SF waiting to be read somewhere around here. It’s too bad that the short fiction market has dried up. When I was getting into the genre in the 1980s, I read more short fiction than novels. The magazines were a great way to be exposed to a wide variety of takes on genre fiction in one cheap issue, in addition to giving genre writers a way to develop their career outside the whole agent-publisher Catch-22 loop.
I occasionally buy short fiction (prefer anthologies though). I don’t quite know how to solve the wider problem of lack of short fiction markets other than looking to e-zines or some form of backed magazine.
As for Lathaan, you could look to an “experimental” format like Toomer’s Cane or Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio.
I’ve been enjoying Beneath Ceaseless Skies, particularly Richard Parks’ Japanese S&S stories. And I’m curious about Rogue Blades Entertainment, a small press dedicated to ‘heroic fantasy.” I don’t read the current incarnation of Weird Tales, but my understanding is that apart from a new Elric story from Moorcock, there’s not much S&S in the magazine that debuted Conan, Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser, Jirel of Joiry, etc. I’d love to see them return to their roots if that’s the case. And I would certainly agree with you that I wish there were more markets for heroic fantasy. There seems to be a disconnect between novel length and short form fantasy that isn’t mirrored in sister-genre science fiction.
“There seems to be a disconnect between novel length and short form fantasy that isn’t mirrored in sister-genre science fiction.”
You know, I’ve been having that exact same thought, and I’ve been wondering what brought it about. My theory is that, since short stories can afford to be more “experimental” than novels can (in terms of market acceptance), they eventually came to demand a more experimental form. Thus, traditional fantasy (S&S, heroic, epic, etc.) is actually rejected by many short fic markets in preference of more esoteric stories.
Now, I certainly have no objection to short fiction being the bastion of such tales; I just wish it wasn’t exclusively so.
I’ll be honest – I don’t read short fiction. Usually because I don’t think about it, but more so because like you, I write novels, and read novels. And because I’m young enough that I don’t remember the short fiction market being prominent. By the time I really began reading fantasy, novels were dominant (especially for a reader of my age at the time). Also? Sow that I’m old enough to explore short fiction, there just isn’t enough there. I can read a novel in a day (like I did yours). Blink and I’m done a short story. Anthologies would work better for me in that regard, but I’m still left wanting more.
That doesn’t mean I’m not open to short fiction. My only published credit is a short story! i just need them to be more in my awareness.
I love short fiction. I try to switch between novels and anthologies in my reading queue, and read a lot of short stuff online. I have appreciated them even more since the birth of my daughter, when I may only have time on the bus or before bed to read something quick.
My love comes partly out of being a writer. I admire the artistry and challenge of a good short story. They can be elegant, pithy, visceral, surreal. . . the ability of a short story to concisely embody one feeling or idea, and communicate that with brevity and verve, is what makes me seek them out. Even if I am disappointed by one, I often find something to ponder,and begrudge the time far less than a reading a mediocre novel.
I wish that the anthology market was stronger and more popular, because I think thematic collections like that are a good way to introduce readers to a new trope or writers they have not read before. I think they are quite vital to the larger SF market.
This is exactly the type of quandary that I think suits itself to experimentation with self-publishing or reader-sustained fiction projects. I’m experimenting with this right now, with The Shattered Glass Project, and while I went into it with very small expectations and great trepidation, it’s been very well received so far.
There’s a plethora of different models being used, by fiction writers and game creators alike… Maybe one of them might work for you?
Feel free to contact me (jess@jesshartley.com) if you want to brainstorm.
I tend to stay away from short stories. Too much time spent getting involved with characters that you will never see again.
A series of short stories with a reoccurring character(s), that I could get into.
Nearly all of my reading these days is in electronic format – Kindle or iPad – I’m a hoarder when it comes to books and I hate to part with them. The electronic format solves that problem
[...] Where have you gone? – Suvudu.com (SF, SciFi, Fantasy, Publishing, ShortStoory) [...]