james thurber

I find that when I read short stories, more short stories of my own come to me and I believe Delany when he says that you can’t write anything better than the best stuff you’re reading. Here’s ten of my most accessible favorites, mostly speculative fiction, but with a few lit writers in there as well.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. – Vonnegut is the best of the best, and I don’t just say that because he’s a fellow Hoosier. Welcome to the Monkey House is a great collection to start with and one that I read over and over in high school, but I’m also fond of Look At the Birdie, published posthumously.

Carol Emshwiller – Also amazing, also doing things so skillfully that plain language manages to become part of such a lovely construction that the grain of the words seems ornamental as well as story material. I just love Emshwiller, and getting to publish one of her short stories during my time at Fantasy Magazine was a highlight. I particularly recommend I Live With You and Report to The Men’s Club.

If you’re a Redmond resident, there’s an open mike at the Teen Center this Saturday. I’m hoping some of the students from the workshop I did there will show up to read pieces, so I’m going, and it should be a lively time.

Things to Look At

• Children’s drawings rendered realistically. Some of these are awesome, some just a little disturbing.
• I love night sky photos. Here’s some beautiful ones, plus a video talking about taking your own.
• This four minute video shows the creation of an absolutely lovely piece of art.

Writing Links

• Chuck Wendig provides 25 reasons your reader will keep reading. My favorite is “Characters About Whom We Give Not One Shit, But Many” because it’s very true for me. One of my favorite (literary, not spec-fic) books is E.H. Young’s sadly out of print Miss Mole because by the end we love the main character so much and want a happy life for her so very, very much.
• I’m very excited by the news of the Thurber House reopening its writer in residency program, because I’ve always wanted to apply for that. I adore Thurber. ADORE.
• Need a motivational tool? Here’s one that gives you kittens.

Just Because

• How cute is this? Baby dinosaurs!

Pimpage

• I had a byline in the November 14th Publishers Weekly, with a Q&A with YA author J.H. Trumble. Unfortunately, you must be a subscriber to see the piece. Still – that’s a credit on my publication list that makes me squee a bit.
• Got a new Kindle but don’t know what to read on it? Can five stars on Amazon be all that wrong? Try my collection, Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight.
• If you’re interested in taking my online workshop, details can be found here.

I’m currently working on: a travel piece for Northwest Travel, an essay for Clarkesworld, an article on SEO for the SFWA Bulletin, the last rewrite of the current novel, being better about blogging, and preparation for the online workshop.

I talked yesterday about flash fiction, what it is and why writers might want to write some. I mentioned that it’s a great place to try out new techniques. So here’s five possible things to focus on in a flash piece, with five more coming on Monday. Pick one and sit down and write the story. How long should it be? That’s entirely your call.

1. Write a story in future tense. Tell the reader what’s going to happen, an anticipation of the story to come.
2. Write a haiku about a place. Now take it and expand it with an important meeting or goodbye taking place there.
3. Write a piece that is a conversation and that only uses one syllable words.
4. Write a piece that is the conversation’s setting, in which at least half the words are three syllables or more, and in which no sentence is shorter than ten words. Optional: Make it a description from the pov of one of the participants in the conversation, who has a secret they desperately want to keep from the other character.
5. Write a piece telling a familiar story from the POV of a character who doesn’t usually get to speak, like the mother bear in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, or the superhero nobody’s ever heard of.
6. Go into your kitchen and take out two spices. Mix a couple of pinches and sniff them. Now write about what the smell reminds you of.
7. What is a present you’ve never gotten but always wanted? Write a flash about it being given to someone else.
8. Who is the saddest superhero and what was their last adventure?
9. The game never ended but went on for decades. Write a story that tells the reader why.
10. Go for a walk or ride and look at things until you notice something you’ve never noticed before. Now write about it.

P.S. Want to read some flash fiction being written before anyone knew to call it that? Try James Thurber’s Fables for Our Time. Or for something more contemporary, Michael Swanwick’s Cigar-Box Faust and Other Miniatures.

Enjoy these story prompts and want more content like this? Check out the classes Cat gives via the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, which offers both on-demand and live online writing classes for fantasy and science fiction writers from Cat and other authors, including Ann Leckie, Seanan McGuire, Fran Wilde and other talents! All classes include three free slots.

Prefer to opt for weekly interaction, advice, opportunities to ask questions, and access to the Chez Rambo Discord community and critique group? Check out Cat’s Patreon. Or sample her writing here.