I'm finding that when I hit a slow part on my novel or feel I need a breather from it but don't want to stop writing I do a bit of work on a short story. I can think of a few novelists who published some short stories; do most novelists do that? Who at WW does this? Just curious as usual . . .

I never have. I find they don't stop at the end when they should, but turn into half-finished novels....

Rosy

I do, occasionally, but I've always had a novel going at the same time, and it was novels I started with when I was learning to write.

Well as a children's writer you have to have a finger in both pies.

I write short stories, though I regard myself primarily as a novelist. I tend not to when I'm in the middle of a novel, but only when I haven't got a WIP to flex my writing muscles on. I'll also sometimes write a story to experiment with a technique or a voice or to see if I can do something I suspect I can't. Oddly, it's when I'm not trying to produce a masterpiece, but when I'm thinking it of an exercise, that they end up most successful.

But it annoys the real short story writers to have novelists, as well as the rest of the world, talking as if their wonderful art form is five-finger exercises, so I try not to!

Emma

I write stories these days because, when they arrive, they sort of demand to be got down. So I stop whatever else I'm writing, and nail them. I 'catch them' as they whizz past bat-like, in the same way I catch scenes for the novel. To me a scene from a novel and a short story have such a similar shape I don't really distinguish between them, writing-wise.

I've got one that arrived, more-or-less fully-formed, in my head a few weeks back - an image, ten minutes thinking, a few lines of notes, and it's there. That's one of the things I love about short fiction: you can hold it all in your head at once. I'm saving up actually writing it for a treat after I've done the latest round of revisions on the current novel.

Emma

I love writing short stories. Obviously, they're not as demanding as a novel, less stressful and more fun, kind of snippets of your style. They also help to keep your name out there if you're getting other stuff published, but overall, I write them simply because I have too many ideas for full length novels.

I need to write some more but I've been focusing solely on the novel. One day, it's my dream to bring out a collection and I nearly have enough stories now. Still, the agent advises me to get the three books out first. By that time, I'll probably have enough for three collections!

I suppose in that way, they can also fill the space between publishing books and make you look less idle?

JB

Still, the agent advises me to get the three books out first.

That's because only then will your publisher love you enough to indulge your whim, and put up with making a loss. Which is what they'll do, even though as you say, it's not bad thing to fill in the gap. They'd rather you did it by writing novels quicker!

Helen Dunmore says that her short fiction collections sell a tenth of what her novels do, and that this is pretty universal, even with big names like her and Rose Tremain. And when the reps are selling in your next novel, the bookseller goes to Bookscan, looks up your last publication, sees it sold 10,000 whereas the one before sold 100,000, and orders correspondingly fewer copies. Saying, 'but it was short fiction and we all know that doesn't sell' doesn't make them ignore thast fact, by all accounts.

On the other hand a friend has just sold their first book, to Secker. And, yes, it's a short story collection, which is always said to be impossible to sell.

Emma

I would love to see another collection of short stories by Susanna Clarke - apparently she wrote some of them while on a writing course, before the novel had been picked up.
She thinks of them as extended footnotes


NaomiM

I'm waiting for my copy of Ladies to arrive through the post. I'm also waiting for the sun to go out. Which will happen first, I wonder?

Emma, that's interesting. I detected a note of that when - a little cheekily - I proposed releasing a book of short stories while I worked on my novel. I was only half-joking, but he said that they only did marginally well when the author was established, and even then, they were rarely great successes. I think that's a shame, as I love short stories, especially when they come from novelists. There are so many loose ends and addendums that can fill the pages.

JB

I¡m still churning out a few shorts, mainly to be broadcast on radio, which gives me a certain amount of publicity - they've agreed to plug WITHOUT REPROACH along with the shorts.

I've also written a collection that's being recorded for a talking book, (on a suggestion by the radio presenter who is recording it for me. I don't expect to make much from it, but hope my name will get a few more mentions.

If you can get shorts published, its all name dropping stuff - nothing is ever wasted.