Collections of Short Stories

TheCthultist · Feb 15, 2015

I am currently working on constructing a collection of about seven or eight short stories I've been writing that all fall into a common theme and universe, with some shared characters and history throughout all of them. I'm curious about what the opinion is on such things around here. I know collections typically aren't financially successful, but I want to know why.

Is it a good idea to compile a bunch of short stories together into a collection like this or is it typically better to just make each story it's own, individual thing? Should connected stories be grouped up like this or does it take something away from their ability to stand on their own? Have any of you constructed such collections or anthologies in the past? Are there any particularly good or bad examples of short story collections you might suggest looking into for someone interested in this medium? Any that you particularly like/hate?

Also, just as a side note, I need a little advice on one aspect of this for personal reasons. My first story (I believe the longest of all of them) is over 8k words. Is this too long to still be considered a short story? Is it going to be weird having that lead off the collection and then have six or seven 2-4k word stories follow it?

WriterBN · Feb 16, 2015

There are a few other discussions here and in the self-pub forum about short story collections, but the answer to whether they are successful is, as usual: it depends. Genre seems to be the biggest factor.

As for examples, my favorites are Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, one of the few collections to win a Pulitzer; George Saunders' Tenth of December; and John Updike's My Father's Tears...

I don't think 8k is too long for a short story, but that's just my opinion. I like collections where the length varies. For whatever reason, mine all seem to end up around 5-6k.

SampleGuy · Feb 17, 2015

I am working on a short story collection too. Each story is known as a chapter with a hook at the beginning and a cliff hanger at the end. It depends how good each story is. Check out the Sherlock Holmes series. The might be good examples.

adevereux · Feb 19, 2015

My very first published short story was 10,000 words. Just FYI.

Fruitbat · Feb 19, 2015

TheCthultist said:
I am currently working on constructing a collection of about seven or eight short stories I've been writing that all fall into a common theme and universe, with some shared characters and history throughout all of them. I'm curious about what the opinion is on such things around here. I know collections typically aren't financially successful, but I want to know why.

Is it a good idea to compile a bunch of short stories together into a collection like this or is it typically better to just make each story it's own, individual thing? Should connected stories be grouped up like this or does it take something away from their ability to stand on their own? Have any of you constructed such collections or anthologies in the past? Are there any particularly good or bad examples of short story collections you might suggest looking into for someone interested in this medium? Any that you particularly like/hate?

Also, just as a side note, I need a little advice on one aspect of this for personal reasons. My first story (I believe the longest of all of them) is over 8k words. Is this too long to still be considered a short story? Is it going to be weird having that lead off the collection and then have six or seven 2-4k word stories follow it?

I especially like reading linked short stories but I don't read much SFF. The Lake Wobegon stories by Garrison Keillor is a good example of linked short stories and it's fun to run into the same characters again. I would (and do) only write short stories "for the love." As you know, is not a very good route to commercial $uccess, exceptions aside. Also, I think one very long story or even a novella along with other shorter stories is just fine. When the category isn't all that popular, I don't think distinctions within that category matter all that much. So you may as well write what calls to you and then you've at least got one thing right.

Why readers seem to largely prefer novels, I don't know. And things always change too. I recall when novellas were a hard sell, and when fantasy was a hard sell, so... It might help commercially if you can swing making it "a novel in stories," since "novel" seems to be the magic word, idk. A couple of "novels in stories" that I know of are Olive Kitteridge and also, oh what is the name of that old one? Winesburg, Ohio. If you google it, I'm sure you'll find more good ones. It helps to get some of the stories accepted by magazines/anthologies first. Good luck!

TheCthultist · Feb 23, 2015

Fruitbat said:
I especially like reading linked short stories but I don't read much SFF. The Lake Wobegon stories by Garrison Keillor is a good example of linked short stories and it's fun to run into the same characters again. I would (and do) only write short stories "for the love."

Now that's good to hear.
That is essentially what I'm going for here, and with just about all of my stories. If I mapped it all out, the flowchart of character crossover within my writing would cover a decent sized wall. It's just an aspect of storytelling that I absolutely love and, to an extent, something I got out of studying history for so long. When little people in one important event later end up being key players in other events, it's one of my favorite things to run into in stories. In this case, each story in my collection will have some vague relation to each other, with a little bit of character crossover and a significant amount of shared history.

That whole "writing for the love of writing" is kind of the mantra I've always stuck with. However, because of it I've always also been a little hesitant to actually show other people my work. I'm never sure just how far into my own head it is and how well it translate for someone else who isn't constantly mulling over the ins and outs of the world that's set up in it. Either way though, I have no intention of letting commercial success (or lack there of) stop me from writing something or shaping something a certain way.

gilesth · Mar 3, 2015

I really like that idea. In fact, I'm glad to see that you're doing this because a friend and I are going to collaborate on a project that we're going to release as an audio anthology. The sales structure may be more difficult to figure out, but I genuinely believe that the internet is re-opening the market for short stories, and collections are a great way to get a bunch of your stories in front readers who can save them for an opportunity to read through a full story without having to dedicate a ton of time to a full novel.

As for the stories, arrange them in the order they fit in. You're the editor (I assume), so put it together according to your vision.

ML-Larson · Mar 5, 2015

Also, it depends on if you self-publish, indy publish, or trad publish. With self publishing, there's nothing stopping you from releasing them individually, and as an anthology set. Many authors are publishing their short stories/novellas this way, and once Valkyrja comes out later this spring, I intend to box up the first four in my series as well. I'll probably keep going in that direction as well, releasing a new anthology for each four novellas I put out.

SeaSerpent · Mar 6, 2015

I'm doing this very thing at the moment. I've managed to get a small trade publisher interested and I'm blogging about the process. Short story collections are a fairly niche market, but I'm looking forward to having them all together in one place. (In my case about half the collection have already been published and the rest are new material.)

Personally I'm a big fan of short stories. They're a great way of honing your skills as a writer and for trying out new things.

Collections of Short Stories

TheCthultist

Kept ya waiting, huh?

WriterBN

SampleGuy

adevereux

Fruitbat

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TheCthultist

Kept ya waiting, huh?

gilesth

ML-Larson

SeaSerpent