you should read more short stories

some thoughts and some recs

I have a personal agenda to make more people read short stories. I’m not talking about people in the ~literary~ world. I’m talking about people who maybe read 3-5 books a year, who only know what a workshop is because they watched Girls. I want reading short stories to become the hot new pedestrian activity of choice: on the train, in the waiting room at the dentist’s office, on the toilet. I want my coworker to ask me “have you read the new Brandon Taylor?” and then slack me a link to Joyland. I want to overhear bathroom gossip about which was better: the movie adaptation or the original short story?

The reasoning behind this agenda is simple:

1. I am a writer who loves writing short stories.

2. I am a reader who loves reading short stories.

Before I started writing fiction, I rarely, if ever, read short stories. It wasn’t until I started my MFA that reading short stories became a big part of my reading life. It’s a commonly held belief in the literary world (of which I am just becoming privy to) that MFA programs teach you how to write short stories. And while I think the truth of this statement more than likely depends on the specific program, the workshops I have been in so far have overwhelmingly been focused on short stories. A handful of my classmates have submitted excerpts of novels as well, so I wouldn’t go so far as to say that workshop is for short stories, but workshop does feel more conducive to getting feedback on short stories.

I’m such a baby fiction writer that short stories feel like a place for me to just play and figure out what I’m interested in. I also tend to gravitate more towards shorter-form writing in general. In undergrad, when I was studying screenwriting, I always gravitated more towards TV writing than writing features. I loved the character development that an episodic format offered. To this day some of my favorite shows are the ones that dedicate entire episodes to focus on one character — Ramy, Atlanta, The Bear, just to name a few. Now that I’m writing fiction, I have millions ideas for short stories I would want to write eventually, but absolutely no ideas for a novel (yet.)

If I ever write a book it will probably be a short story collection, or a collection of interconnected short stories disguised as a novel (à la Rattlebone by Maxine Clair), so consider this my way of priming my audience ;)

“Pink Book” by Emil Robinson

Reading short stories is like micro-dosing a feeling. Or going on a day trip. Or tasting a sample at Costco. A good short story has all the richness and nuance and history of a novel, but has the ability to whittle it down to a handful of poignant, tangible images. I love the experience of starting a short story when I get on the train in Brooklyn, underlining a juicy sentence while the train travels underwater, reading a twist at Canal St., arriving at the last page when I’ve reached my destination. Who needs a morning scroll when you can just grab a short story collection off the bedside table and sleepily flip through a few pages of delicious prose.

Even reading a bad short story is pretty low stakes because after 10-20 pages you’re done. And most of the time, a short story is only really “bad” because it didn’t make you feel like there was a good enough reason to be there. Like watching a filler episode of a TV show, or listening to a joke that doesn’t quite land. Reading “bad” short stories has helped me better articulate what I think even constitutes a story.

When I think about “good” short stories, I think about the ones where a single line or image or feeling that the story evoked has stuck with me months, sometimes years after reading it. The best short stories make me think, “How did they do that?”

If you’re like I was a few years ago, you might be wondering where to even start when it comes to short stories. There are, of course, many short story collections and anthologies that, admittedly tend to be a hit or a miss. I thoroughly enjoyed the 2024 O. Henry Prize Winners for Short Fiction, edited by Amor Towles. This collection was unique in that nearly every single story was a banger. Some of my favorites were “Serranos” by Francisco González and “Orphans” by Brad Felver. Two other collections I love, both of which have been quite popular in the past few years is Bliss Montage by Ling Ma (the story titled “G” is one of my faves) and The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by

Deesha Philyaw

.

If starting out with an entire collection of short stories feels like too much of a commitment, no need to fear. I have five recommendations (plus a bonus one) for some of the most memorable short stories I’ve read in the past few years. You can find most of these online where they were originally published or in PDF form.

1. “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison

   In her lifetime, Toni Morrison wrote eleven novels and one short story. “Recitatif” is about two girls, one black one, one white, who become friends in an orphanage, and meet again in adulthood, only to find that their friendship cannot withstand racial tensions. The catch is, Morrison never reveals which girl is black and which girl is white, leaving you, the reader, to decide for yourself.

2. “The Soccer Balls of Mr. Kurz” by Michele Mari

   One of my favorites from the O. Henry Prize Winners for Short Fiction last year, this story, translated from the Italian by Brian Robert Moore, is a quiet and somewhat eerie story about a group of boys at a boarding school who often kick their soccer balls over the school’s fence, where they are confiscated by a man who lives on the other side.

3. “Virgins” by Danielle Evans

   This semester I’ve had the pleasure of working with Danielle Evans on a research project. “Virgins” was the first story I’ve ever read of hers, and I’m so glad it was my introduction to her work. It’s about two young best friends who are both discovering their sexualities as teenagers, and the ways in which their individual explorations affect their friendship. This story felt like a forerunner of some of the stories I’ve written, which as a writer is a very special feeling.

4. “The Metal Bowl” by Miranda July

   Mixed reviews around July’s most recent book aside, “The Metal Bowl” is truly one of those stories I think about all the time. July has a a way of saying the thing that no one else is saying in such a visceral, straightforward way, and this story is no exception. I’m forever sending this story to friends, specifically one paragraph that lives in my head rent free.

5. “Bitter North” by Alexandra Tanner

   You might’ve seen Tanner’s debut novel Worry, on the shelves at your favorite bookstore. But her story “Bitter North” in Granta is what originally put me on to her work. It’s about an almost-engaged Brooklyn couple who goes upstate for a weekend trip, where all the anxieties of their puzzle-piece relationship come to a head.

   BONUS: “The Last Vacation” by Celeste Scott

   While you’re at it, you can also read my story “The Last Vacation” which was recently published in The Washington Square Review. It’s about a 9-year-old girl who goes on a trip with her family to Tyler, Texas while her parents’ marriage is on the verge of collapse. This was my first short story publication in a lit journal, and I’m super excited to have it out in the world (-:

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