5 Short Short Stories Every Writer Should Read
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ค. 2024
- No, that's not a typo in the title. Here are a handful of great stories that will make you a better writer, each of which can be read in 20 minutes or less.
Creative Writing Corner is all about helping YOU become a better word-slinger and storyteller. CWC host Luke J. Morris is a published author and full-time English and Creative Writing teacher with a Master's degree in Creative Writing, and on this channel he shares what he's learned over 30+ years of writing and study. Enjoy and engage!
If you'd like to support the channel (and judge if the host walks his talk), you can pick up a copy of Luke's short story collection 'Bad Art' here:
www.amazon.com/Bad-Art-Galler...
Thanks for watching! If you enjoy this video, Please click "like" and subscribe, and hit the little bell icon so you don't miss a video. And leave your comments, questions, and suggestions below!
Good luck, and good writing. Peace! - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
![[Full Episode] MasterChef Junior Thailand มาสเตอร์เชฟ จูเนียร์ ประเทศไทย Season 3 Episode 5](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/g5wpgeAIzMs/mqdefault.jpg)
1 - Tolstoy - How Much Land Does a Man Need?
2 - James Joyce - The Dead
3 - Hemingway - Hills Like White Elepants
4 - Borges - Funes the Memorious
5 - David Foster Wallace - Incarnations of Burned Children
But it will have changed by tomorrow.
Great list! I haven't read that Wallace piece, though. Thanks for the rec!
Great picks, A few I like ...1. Albert Camus - The Guest, 2. Shirley Jackson - The Lottery, 3. Graham Greene - The Destructors , 4. Jack London - To Build a Fire,
My (reader's) choice: "A retrieved reformation", by O. Henry; "The Gift of the Magi", by O. Henry; The Willow Walk", by Sinclair Lewis; "Young man Axelrod", by S. Lewis. In addition (not in English): "Peter and Rosa", by Isaak Dinesen.
excellent picks
The Lottery!
I had never read anything by Jack London, but came across "To Build A Fire" in an anthology. Absolutely mind-blowing.
@@raulsimon2218 couldn’t get enough O’Henry.
Outside of school, only writers and would-be writers read short stories.
"The Open Window," by Saki might be the shortest great story ever written. A real knockout.
It sounds familiar, but I don't think I've read it. I'll pick it up soon. Thanks!
@@creativewritingcorner This is probably Saki's most famous story. It's indeed a clever little concoction (Saki reminds me of O. Henry, both authors showing fondness for twist endings). "Sredni Vashtar" is another memorable Saki tale.
The Open Window is truly wonderful, but I think The Interlopers by Saki is even better because of its scope and stunning ending.
Car crash while hitchhiking - denis johnson. Modern masterpiece
Borges, Stephen King, George Saunders, Harlan Ellison, Chandler. Short stories are essential for writers and we all have individual tastes. I agree with your Poe and Hemingway selection.
Another vote for Jack London's 'To Build A Fire". I lived many years in Alaska so it is special to me.
@willykanos1044 Great story. Amazing use of characterization and viewpoint, setup--> rising suspense--> payoff structure, setting descriptions for mood and atmosphere, etc.
“The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges. The master short story writer par excellence. I return to this story constantly. I inherited my grandfather’s history of World War II by Liddell Hart as a child so it’s mention in the first lines has always resonated with me. Anything by Borges is to transport yourself to a place few others can.
“When described in summary, there is a danger of reducing Borges to a collection of tropes: labyrinths, mirrors, invented books (he avoided “the madness of composing vast books” by pretending they exist and writing commentaries on them). But with these elements he explored some of the most thrilling ideas in fiction. Labyrinths and strange books are both present here, as is a theory of existence that anticipates the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Extraordinarily, all these elements are enfolded within an account of a wartime espionage mission.” (Guardian)
Borges is excellent. I teach his "The Library of Babel" to my Lit class every year.
So, after seeing this comment, I just looked up and read "The Library of Babel" for the first time. That's 10 minutes I'll never see again.
Thank you, sir -- that's a great spark! Bierce's "Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge", and London's "To Start a Fire" jump immediately to mind. Now to finish writing something....
Two of my faves! I've taught 'Owl Creek Bridge' to my creative writing class a number of times (usually in October, when we're writing ghost stories), and the students love it. I teach 'To Start a Fire' in English class, but writers can learn a lot from that one, as well, so down the line I'll likely also incorporate that one into a writing lesson.
Those are two of my absolute favorites of all time ❤ 😮👍🏻 But nothing beats Ray Bradbury’s “Frost and Fire” which changed my life and contains the distilled essence of 1000 novels and thousands of lives in one book. It also contains the flower in the concrete, so to speak, nod to Stephen Kings Gunslinger, of the whole era of modern science. And also The oldest story writing known to mankind all intact on a 5000 year old clay tablet “The Epic of Gilgamesh” where he searches for a flower of immortality. It’s one of those books that shows how an absolute master uses languages and the ghosts of ages past to make something truly haunting. In my opinion, it might be the greatest story ever written when combined with the saga of modern knowledge and information explosion. 😊❤👍🏻
When Elon Musk built the silver and most Beautiful heavy rocket, I wept. It was the shining rocket on the hill from that story my father read to
Me one night so long ago. That shining rocket on the hill. The soul of all evolution. ❤😭
I suggest Saki's The open window. The story holds suspense throughout and it ends with a humorous touch.
I love all Saki's short stories - they are so strange, so brilliant.
I always thought this would have made great Twilight Zone episode.
Saki is genius. Tobermory is a favorite.
"Hills Like White Elephants" is not only a masterful story, and perhaps the quintessential example of Hemingway's short stories, but has a superb, evocative title as well.
Oh, for sure. Hemingway was good at that. "Big Two-Hearted River", "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place", "Cat in the Rain", "The Old Man at the Bridge". Each title brings both an image and a question to mind, and all but compels the reader to dive into the story.
Meanwhile there's Ray Bradbury with titles like "The Table"...
@@creativewritingcorner Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" is another wonderful example. The late avant-garde artist and filmmaker Jack Smith (1932-1989) once stated that he invested immense importance in a work's title--half of the artistic impact, he argued, lay in the title itself.
@barrymoore4470 He definitely has his winners, title-wise. "The Sound of Thunder" and "I Sing the Body Electric" (cribbed from Whitman) are also excellent draws.
Then there's "The Pedestrian". 🤷♂️
@@creativewritingcornerI just learned today on Wikipedia that the title of "There Will Come Soft Rains" was derived from poet Sara Teasdale! Still, you have to give Bradbury credit for a great eye for the evocative phrase.
Incidentally, Yeats also inspired some quite memorable titles (e.g., McMurtry's 'Horseman, Pass By', McCarthy's 'No Country for Old Men').
@@barrymoore4470 Not to mention 'Things Fall Apart'! Yeats is the man.
My favorite book is probably The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction.
Thank you so much! I've been reading through all the comments to find more recommendations, and I feel like - where am I going to find all these different stories? And here you are with the answer!
Not as short but Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce is amazing.
Absolutely! One of my all-time faves.
OMG yes.
One that I read in high school in the 60's. Probably it is not offered nowadays.
I was totally expecting this to be on the list.
The short film is amazing too.
Another great short story is A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor - and many of her other short stories.
Absolutely! That one and "Good Country People" are two of my faves.
Flannery O'Connor was one rare person. There is no one remotely like her. And, mentioning women, Alice Munro. But she's a master class, not necessarily for beginners.
Loved that story, also A View From The Woods, but my favorite O'Connor story is Greenleaf. It is an extraordinary example of irony.
Oh man, an unforgettable story. She had a few like that.
"A Bullet in the Brain" by Tobias Wolfe is certainly the most interesting short story I ever read.
Strongly agree.
I was given a print out copy of that story when I was in a high school creative writing class in 1996. I still remember it is vividly. It's a powerful story.
Yes! It's a shame he hasn't written more short stories. Isaac Bashevis Singer's great too.
Not just writers, but I think every American adult should read "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, written as warning about where we are most certainly headed.
Thank you for this. ❤ I was feeling really jaded, one of those moods where everything I read bored me, like there was nothing to offer, like I'd read it all before. Every last one of your suggestions inspired me for the first time in months and months.
Thank you. I love short stories, so will read these with enthusiasm😊
Also. I just bought Bad Art... You weren't kidding when things are going to be weird! 😊
It's like enjoying my morning cereal, when a freight train crashed across the living room before I could even get a spoonful in my mouth.
@@Barklord Luke is the author. :) He has a link I'm the description. You'll be in for a rollercoaster ride I'm sure 😊
Thank you! I hope you enjoy it.
I would like to put in a shout out for Larry Niven for his short short stories set in The Draco Tavern. These are gems, some 1 to 3 pages. Great craft to put so much in such a small package.
Fantastic. Thank you for the enticing excerpts!
Flannery O'Connor is indispenable in this discussion. A Good Man Is Hard to Find, but almost anything will do. Another great short story is "The Verger."
She's my favorite short story writer. A Good Man Is Hard to Find is amazing.
@@thebuzzkiller69She’s my favorite too. She sucks me right in! 🤗
Another one of my faves from her is Everything That Rises Must Converge.
Greenleaf and A View Of The Woods are two of my favorites. I can't say she's the best, but she is sui generis. There's nobody who writes quite like her.@@Finians_Mancave
Verger by Maugham is a pleasure to read..... The whole story comes down in the last sentence. So is his story 'Rain' - I make it a point to read this story every year...
Really nicely done and a great selection of stories!
Herman Melville's, Bartleby The Scribner, was considered the ultimate Short Story in a compendium of 200 American Short Stories. It ended with a breathtaking, other worldly insight into the dissonance created by an ocean of correspondence unopened that Bartleby was responsible to sort.
A short story I always wanted to write was my sister's description of my Grandmother's long term professor friend named Mr. Murhab. Their shared, historic, 5 story Ann Arbor campus apartment building. had a chute for incinerating. One day my sister described a pile she saw next to the 9"x11" shovel/door from which the burnables slowly skidded, and bumped along the flue walls in their descent. They fought the updraft of the venting hot air, fed by the eternal flame 5 stories below.
The stack was of his personal photos and awards from decades of teaching at the University of Michigan in the language department.
He was a bachelor. My Grandmother had died recently. None of his age group was still alive. No one to cherish his belongings, except by me had I known. It still slams the breaks on my busy itinerary. How much could be gleaned from such a trove, now aborted?
Brakes, but otherwise a superb comment. Also, somehow I think aborted can be improved. Now ash? Now dust? IDK. Anyway, great comment. I still remember Bartleby repeatedly resolutely refusing to scrib. "Nope," he said. "No more of that stuff for me." He said it so many times it would now undoubtedly be called a meme. BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER HIS EXACT WORD OR WORDS!!! It's like "I'll pass." Was it "I'd rather not"? After five minutes of hitting my head with a ball peen hammer I'm pretty sure it's "I'd prefer not to."
Nope, that's not it!!
A good recommendation, but also longer than the terms of this exercise. Start working on your story. Set a limit of 4000 word and take your time.
"Old age, even if it blots the page, is honorable "
From 'Bartleby the scrivener'.
Kate Chopin's ' Story Of An Hour' is brilliant. Had to almost laugh out loud at that superb ending. 🤣
Love this lesson. I taught most of these short stories in my High School literature classes. I loved
😊Thank you ma’m…
James Thurber. The cat in the hotbird seat
So often - even in the comments here - one sees lists and recommendations. 'Every writer should read". But when presented as nothing but a list, the info is meaningless.
Your video - addressing *why* they should read, *what is special about the piece that they can learn/learn from - is genuinely *useful. Thank you! (And: immediately shared with my writing group)
I've read the Twain piece a hundred times - and will read it totally differently next time. Being told "this is a special and unique piece that everyone should know" is unhelpful. Being told *why it is special and unique fosters learning - about that piece and beyond. Your students are lucky to have you!
Thank you! I'm so happy to hear that. 😁
And thanks for watching!
Fantastic list! Ray Bradbury's, "There Will Come Soft Rains," about an automated house going about its functions, post-apocalypse, had a big impact on me when I read it as a teenager in the early '80s.
Great Story...... The City, The Scythe, The Fire Balloons are also some of his great stories.... There are many good stories he has written
The Veldt.
Thank you for this.
I love that Langston Hughes story about the woman refusing to have her purse snatched. One of my favorite short stories is Horsie by Dorothy Parker.
I'm looking forward to reading all of them.
Thank you for this list, and for informing us that we can learn a lot from short fiction, as it is more practical than reading so many long novels. I'm a new fiction writer, and I love it. Most of my experience has been in academic research and writing. Fiction is more fun.
Thanks
Hugely informative
Excellent. Thank you
Try to read this one. This is great. The Aleph, by Jorge Luis Borges.
The Open Boat by Stephen Crane and Indian Camp by Hemingway are two that have really stayed with me over the years. Also excellent is Raymond Carver’s Cathedral.
I thought of Indian Camp as well. There's a lot to unpack.
Some great stories!
also, just to note, the algorithm suggested this video on my timeline just now; very good video
Really love this discussion and lesson, Luke. Pleasure to come across your channel, particularly as a creative writing student myself. You wouldn't believe how often "Hills Like White Elephants" was flagged up in class as THE go-to short-story for the final assignment. Hate to say there does feel to be almost an air of boredom about that one nowadays. Having said all that, it is still a masterful piece of prose story-telling; omitting explication, but emitting more meaning, pruning language and evoking so much from so little. I do highly respect it. Funnily enough, I haven't read much Hemingway in the long-form yet, I started The Old Man and The Sea ages ago but somehow veered off with that.
Short-stories I would recommended that adopt various, wonderful techniques to try and employ: Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche's "The Thing Around Your Neck", which is a masterly work of conscience-pricking second-person narration, and J.G Ballard's "The Concentration City". I'm not massive on sci-fi, if anything Ballard is more sui generis, but the narrative techniques, the way he jumps between dialogue, sharp prose, and sticks to scientific, yet still very understandable terminology in that story. That work causes very distinct, quiet tremors, and lingers long in the mind! Happy reading and writing!
Ballard is my favorite author. I have this massive book of all his collected stories. The Concentration City is a damn good one. 👍
Guy de Maupassant has many great short stories. It is hard for me to choose a favorite. "La Horla" is a well known fantastic story and "The Neckless" has a good twist. There is also Stefan Zweig. "Amok" is popular and there are others up to novellas. Just looking at the titles will interest you. Both these two also wrote excellent novels and their work has often been made into movies.
John Steinbeck had good short stories or novellas, two of my favorites are "Tortilla Flats" and "Cannery Row".
"Was it a Dream" Guy ... try the prologue to Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth ..."Those Who Walk Away from Omelias" Ursula LeGuin
Le. Le Horla 😉
My favorite book when I was in School.
My top five favs: "To Build a Fire," "The Bottle Imp," The Most Dangerous Game," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "Rogues in the House."
great well done helpful ty
I highly recommend *Lorrie Moore* who is an amazing short story writer
Thank you! You did a very good job teaching.
Thank you!
One of my favorite short stories is To Build A Fire by Jack London. Thanks for this list! I haven’t read them all. 👍👍
Thanks! Interesting selections and well-presented. One of my favorites that comes to mind is Dorothy Parker's Big Blonde. And I Live On Your Visits. And any number of them. Et al. thanks again for your selectiuons.
Great video subject and picks.
When I think short stories two pop to mind:
O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and,
“A Perfect Day for Bananafish” by Salinger.
Well done Lauren . With the greatest respect, for someone so young to master this , is very impressive. Love the humour also !
Thank you! My name is Luke, though, and I'm in my 40s (which I know is "young" by absolute standards, but it certainly doesn't feel like it - especially since I spend most of my time at home and work around people younger than me).
That said, I appreciate the compliment!
You should have known you were asking for trouble when you only selected five.
I will suggest some more.
"The Gift of the Magi" and "Ransom for Red Chief" by O. Henry
"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson
"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs
Next, consider some cohesive short story anthologies.
"Winesburg, Ohio" by Sherwood Anderson
"Dubliners" by James Joyce
"Don Quixote" by Cervantes a novel containing an anthology of short stories.
I would add two: Ursula K LeGuin's The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas.
Then, The Dead by James Joyce in the Dubliners collection. Both excellent in very different ways.
The Dead is regular Christmas reading for me. A fine example of what the short story can accomplish.
I read Ursula K LeGuin's The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas to our reading group. Children enjoyed the subsequent discussion on what their choice would be, had they been the characters in the story...
It's such an intriguing story. I'm sure it captured the children's imagination.@@mangalapalliv
@@postmodernrecyclerI've seen the John Huston movie adaptation of The Dead. There's that.
@@nl3064 That's a fantastic movie. Also it really evokes the book.
I just read, "The Story of ah Hour." Thanks for the rec!
I nominate "The Lumber Room" by Saki. Mind you, I come from SF, where there are a million great short stories.
I very much enjoyed your selection of stories. Thank you for your posting. I would like to recommend ‘Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned’ a collection stories by Wells Tower. I like them all but ‘Retreat’ made me laugh out loud, especially funny in a dark sense.
It may not be a short short story, but when something is only a hundred and eighty two pages, Carson McCullers' .Reflections In A Golden Eye comes to mind.
McCullers was such a special author. Reflections is my favorite of her novels!
H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Fritz Leiber, and Jack Vance all wrote some great short stuff as well. Excellent video
For sure! Lovecraft, Howard, and Smith are horror/fantasy masters, Vance is a sci-fi legend, and Leiber is on my personal list of the all-time great short story writers.
@@creativewritingcorner Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser!
@jasonuerkvitz3756 Yes! "Ill-Met in Lankhmar" FTW!!
Jack Vance! YES.
English teacher to English teacher, I'd recommend "The Interlopers" and "The Chaser" as two short masterpieces.
I'll check 'em out. Thanks!
Interesting. The Langston Hughes example is fascinating. A short story of 2 to 3 pages.
The definition of a "short short story" as far as I know is one that is at maximum two pages long. The best one I've ever read is Spencer Holst's "Brilliant Silence". An incredible amount of imagery, great characterization, and a wonderful flow with a stunning resolution, all in 1 and 3/4 pages. Amazing.
I'm not saying the whole reason for my lifelong insomnia is my dad's readings of Poe at my bedtime, but it certainly didn't help. I always thought The Yellow Wallpaper was really haunting.
10:36 😅😅😅 short stories are a good idea and not only giving what to read but showing how to do it and what to look for. Great teaching!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
For great short stories I recommend Alice Munro and Louis Auchincloss and Joyce Carol Oates.
The Paul Bowles short stories were very powerful reads for me.
For me, Balzac's A Passion In The Desert, quickly reveals all or most of the plots: Man against man (the Maugrabins), man against the elements (the desert), man against himself, man against nature (the panther), and man against the mystery (god or universe), that are usually presented solo - in less than four pages if I recall. I think man aginst machine was missing. It's worth a read...
I think the short story The Outsider is also a story that helped me in terms of what a simple yet great twist is like, it was also the story I read where shortly after finishing it I went back and reread it just so I could see how Lovecraft was able to pull it off effectively it's truly one of his best in my opinion.
I think it also partially inspired my own short story WeatherBeast which I wrote while I had a horrible case of the flu one year great selection 😊👍
My dude, how could you forget Leonard Michaels? His lines crackle.
Great content!
Good list.
I am a huge fan of Stephen Kings collection Night Shift. I can’t recommend this enough.
Me too! His collection 'Just After Sunset' is also excellent.
This is probably one of the best writing videos I've ever come across. I've already read 2 of the short stories recommended. Amazing how much skilled writers can do with a short amount of words. This would be a nice series. Would love to get more recommendations, as reading and learning from quality stories is key in writing well, like stories that setup atmosphere really well, mystery stories that leave clues really well so that the payoff ending is believable, and maybe stories to study contrast in styles, like Hemmingway's simple sentence structures and descriptions as opposed to Wilde or Lovecraft's flowery style of writing. But yeah, there's so many short stories out there, but for writers who are trying to learn the craft and do it well, learning from great short stories is key. Again, great video! :)
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'll be doing another one like this very soon, so keep an eye out. 😁
@@creativewritingcorner Awesome! :) By the way (off the subject) I've come across videos where writers talk about not using, or minimize using, state-of-being verbs (like was, seem, appear, smell, taste, feel) as they say it makes a story "weak" and yet, I see it everywhere: successful authors, classic stories, etc. And it's used a lot. Even the opening paragraph of Langston Hughes' short story, "Thank you, Ma'am." For a person learning the craft, this gets really confusing. It sounds like those "Show, don't tell" kind of writing advice that isn't clearly understood by new writers. Or is this just some stylistic preference for some writers? Would love to know your opinion about this! :)
@@Summer_Dream3r Like any ubiquitous piece of writing advice, this one does have its validity, but needs to be taken with a grain of salt (just like "don't use passive voice").
The problem isn't "using state-of-being verbs." Of course we use them. Our language would sound forced, stilted, or downright weird if we had to go out of our way to avoid every form of "to be" in every instance.
The problem comes when (usually inexperienced) writers use state-of-being verbs in place of or in preference to active verbs - especially when an active verb would be more evocative and have more of the desired emotional impact on the reader. Too many non-active verbs with too few active verbs makes a whole passage sound passive, and makes it more likely to lose the reader's interest.
The secret, as with all things, is finding the balance.
@@creativewritingcorner Thanks for the reply! Really appreciate it! I see. Thanks for a clarifying this. Makes a lot of sense. This was similar to the "show, don't tell" catchphrase for me when I first started writing, which really stumped me for a while, as people made it sound as if it's a no-no to tell. But then I read a James Scott Bell craft book and he mentioned that showing scenes that have low emotion, low stakes can be handled with a bit of telling. Makes sense, too much showing can slow the pace down and make the book boring if what is shown isn't that important to the story. And too much telling would weaken the engaging or immersive use of language that important scenes in stories require. Agreed, balance is the secret. Thanks again for the insight! Cheers! :)
Thank you. Wish I could take the class.
Really good
For what it's worth . . . my favorite Hemingway short story is "My Old Man". On another note . . . Gogol wrote some very compelling, and humorous, short stories "The Inspector General" being one of my favorites. Anyway, enjoyed the video. Good luck with the channel. Regards.
The Interlopers by Saki is a stunning piece of writing. A few pages long and yet it has the sweep of a generational feud and the intimacy of a final showdown where suddenly expectations are subverted in the face of an existential threat and hearts and minds are transformed - but there is a final twist.
Not bad in concept but I don't like the verbose try hard pretentious writing style used. It put me off by the second paragraph.
@@Iron-Bridge Try Saki's "The Storyteller."
LOVE Saki - good call.
Hello sir, this is amazing, thank you for sharing and guiding.
You're welcome. And thank you for watching! 😁
The short story I remember best, is the one at the end of the book "The Kid Gallagher Story " by Robert C Bauer. It is called "Haddum had a harem". I always thought negatively about the concept of a harem. This truly enlightened me!
I've never heard of that story, but I'm intrigued. I'll check it out. Thanks!
Love this video and all the recommendations in the comments. I’ll throw in one of my favourites, ‘Miss Brill’ by Katherine Mansfield. A really masterful example of ‘show not tell’ rule that will break your heart.
I do not know how these stories are so famous, they are completely unsatisfactory.
The first half of the 20th century produced lots of great British short story writers; I'd recommend anything by Somerset Maugham, AJ Alan, AE Coppard and Walter De La Mare (Seaton's Aunt is particularly amazing). From closer to the millennium, Granta produced 2 large collections of American short stories which are well-worth seeking out. However, for sheer joy of story telling, it's hard to beat Ray Bradbury and Neil Gaiman.
The Christmas Kid by Pete Hamill is one i just found last holiday season,nice story, the rest are misery, makes me sooooo glad my dad moved us down to Florida as kids....
So everything that I read in freshman English 😂
Put, "Sony's Blues" on the list. That is one TIGHT story. He must have revised it 20 times or more.
Nice insight
Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby and The Game by Donald Barthelme are great.
Graham Green's 'I Spy' told through the eyes of a child hiding in the darkness as a scene he cannot comprehend plays out in in front of him, is an excellent teaching aid. It is barely two pages long and forces to go back and find the clues as to why his father has been arrested and why.
Thanks for these suggestions. I've read hundreds of short-stories in the past decade because I'm an audio dramatist and I enjoy adapting pulp-fiction stories for audio. I have adapted Poe's "A Cask of Amontillado", two by Vonnegut, two by Bradbury, and two by Robert E. Howard, among others. One in particular that was a real challenge to adapt was Robert Barbour Johnson's "Far Below", because it was entirely first-person narration -- not ideal fodder for audio drama listeners -- but I made a very exciting play out of it, IMO, by adding new characters who help tell the story. It does, however, work as a story-to-read, much in the same way Twain's "Jumping Frog" does. Anyway, after my shameless self-promotion, I recommend "Far Below". 😁
Adapting pulp fiction for audio dramas, what is that? How can we find these?
Great suggestions in the video and comments. Id recommend Tim Obrien's The Things They Carried, and a brilliant poem (esoecially for teaching analysis) My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke. Barbie-Q by Sandra Cisneros is a timely choice too.
My most-read short story author is Harlan Ellison.
He's in my top 5! Right up there with Poe and Bradbury.
The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows by Kipling is a wonderful story. I have reread it many times!
What a great story.... !! I shuddered realising what an addiction can do to a human..... Kipling had a great insight into opium addiction.....
I'd like to add two short stories from Argentina to this repertoire: 1) "The Secret Miracle" by Jorge Luis Borges. This highly imaginative story, like all Borges stories, reads like a novel condensed into short story form. He packs a lot into a few pages. 2) "Graffiti" by Julio Cortazar. This three-page treasure explores how human connection can flourish even when words are censored, and public assembly is banned. Set in 1970s Buenos Aires under an oppressive military regime, a man engages in a dialog of abstract chalk forms with a stranger.
My grain of salt about those two maestros:
My favorite Borges story is "La biblioteca de Babel" (The Library of Babel), the last phrase of the last paragraph on the foot note of that short story is the most mind blowing thing I have ever read.
For me, Cortázar has way too many good short stories to choose only one, but some of my favorites are "Carta a una señorita en París" (Letter to a young lady in Paris), "La salud de los enfermos" (The health of the sick) and "Cuello de gatito negro" (Neck of black kitty). I think Cortázar was extremely good at writing about madness from the inside. You don't read about madness, you experience it through his words.
“Hunters in the Snow” by Tobias Wolff. The ending of the story still haunts me.
"A Cup of Tea" by Katherine Mansfield, is a masterpiece much greater than the sum of its parts.The 3 characters - Rosemary Fell, her husband Philip and a destitute young woman calling herself 'Miss Smith' don't say or do much, but with a few carefully chosen words, the author tells us everything we need to know about their characters, past lives and probable destinies. This is like reading three novels in the space of one short story. Another reading assignment I used to give my students was the collection and presentation of memorable first sentences. Of these, by all-time favorite is Ben Hecht's opening line in Count Bruga:
"Count Hippolyt Bruga was neither a count, nor was his name Hippolyt Bruga."
I love this story....... Truly one of the finest ever written
I loved At The Bay by Mansfield.
All excellent choices, but I do have to add "The Dead" by James Joyce.
Very interesting video. Please explain more examples of techniques 🙂
"Shredni Vashtar" by H.H. Munro (Saki). One of my all time favorite short stories.
thank you very much
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
To read King Lear in 4 pages, try Alan Paton’s The Waste Land. In class I often paired it with (I think) a lesser story, The Sniper, by Liam O’Flaherty.
Alistair MacLoed, The Lost Salt Gift of Blood
Midnight Raid by Brady Udall is an excellent short story. Also Lucia Berlin & Edward P Jones are writers I read & reread
Hey, I’ve been following your channel and it’s been really helpful. Keep up the good work! Well, I’m a native portuguese speaker and I would like to know what would you say about studying writing skills on a foreign language? Is it possible to improve writing skills only on foreing language literature? Are there limits in doing so?
All if these are great. I haven't read the Mark Twain's 'Celebrated Jumping Frog' yet. I also like the ones in the comment section. 'The Necklace' by Guy DeMaupassant is excellent. Also Roald Dahl's 'Landlady' and 'Lamb to the Slaughter' are very enjoyable. Lastly, Bill Naughton's collection of short stories, 'The Goalkeeper's Revenge' are great stories especially teenage boys. Finally, William Trevor in my humble opinion, might be the best contemporary short story writer. His collections are very much worth checking out.
Oh man, 'Lamb to the Slaughter' is SO GOOD. A beautiful setup to a deliciously ironic payoff.
I'll look up some Bill Naughton and William Trevor. Thanks!
The Necklace is great I also enjoy William Trevor and Katherine Mansfield
William Trevor - I think is one of the greatest.