A Novel Approach (To Me)

Wow, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed these days.  Work is CRAZY and I’m behind on my reading.

I’ve been asked by an author to review her book and, I’m sorry to say, I’ve been very slow in responding.  She is an absolutely lovely lady who contacted me after reading my website.  So far, I can tell you that her story is great. However, I want to kill her publisher.  It’s clear that they did not invest in either a copy editor or a proof reader. It breaks my heart because I don’t know how she’ll ever get any commercial success with the novel in its current state.  They did not do this author any justice and are no better than a vanity publisher for handling her in this way.  They should be ashamed of themselves.

Ok, I’m done venting.  On to finish the book. On a positive note, the story has me hooked and I’m having a hard time putting it down, even though I’m distracted by spelling mistakes and editing issues. That is a good sign, right?

I’m a fan of short fiction.  At any point in time, I am reading at least one novel (fiction), one book on writing (non-fiction), and one anthology of short fiction.  There is method to my madness.  This allows me to read based on my moods. Novels allow me to escape when I need to wind down and get away from the stress of work and life.  There are other times when I am in the mood to learn something and find that non-fiction is quite satisfying.  However, most often I’m incredibly time starved and that’s where short fiction comes in.  A short story gives the satisfaction of a story arc without the time investment of a novel.

The reality is that the two–short stories and novels–fill different reading needs. There is a time and place for both. In fact, there is more of a market for short stories than most people think.  They are being published–sometimes as anthologies of multiple authors work on a single theme, other times they may be a group of stories by a single established author.  You can also find short fiction published in many literary magazines.

Even so, most people when given the choice will purchase a novel rather than a collection of short stories. There is a wonderful quote in “Too Much Happiness” by Alice Munro that sums up a perception that exists about short fiction:

“A collection of short stories, not a novel.  This in itself is a disappointment.  It seems to diminish the book’s authority, making the author seem like somebody who is just hanging on to the gates of Literature, rather than safely settled inside.”

There is a myth or perception that short fiction somehow does not hold the same authority or weight as a novel.  I would argue that both are extremely valid forms of writing and that they both serve different purposes.

I stumbled onto an interesting blog that is dedicated to the subject of short fiction and thought I would share it with you.  You can have a look here.

The Toronto Library is up to something!  They are releasing 99 journals into local neighborhoods in the hopes that residents of Toronto will use them to write comments and thoughts about their favorite books. The journals will be left in public places to be picked up and passed on from person to person. The journals will then (hopefully) make their way back to the library by April 20th to become part of the Library’s permanent collection. It’s a stunt they hope will go viral in order to bring attention to the “Keep Toronto Reading” festival that takes place in April.  I think it’s brilliant and I’ll definitely be on the look out for one of the red covered journals!

If you don’t happen to find one of the journals, you can still participate. You can create a 30 to 60 second book review video and post it to You Tube with the tag Keep Toronto Reading for a chance to have your video added to the library’s You Tube Channel.  Check the video above for an example of a celebrity review–or look here for some great examples posted already by people just like you.  Now where did I leave my flip camera??