>And I agree-books are getting way too long. . . . a
lot of books seem
>to be written to fill a size, not sized to fit the
story. If I want to read
>a good 200 page story, don't give it to me hidden in
450 pages.
Some words of agreement from Harlan Ellison, who's published
more than
1,700 short stories in the last 40 years, including at least
one Edgar
winner:
As for current trends in publishing, Ellison is equally
critical, of
both the publishers and the audience.
"There is a diminishing constituency for books that
require
cerebration," he says. "I get really impatient reading a
novel that's 3,
4, 500 pages long and I see imbedded in it a short story
screaming to
get out. This is not art, it's commerce. The market demands a
novel."
On short stories:
"I tended toward the short story for no particular reason,
except that
when I write - the short story has one purpose, and that is
to
illuminate one blazing moment," Ellison says. "It's like
grabbing the
soul of a person."
The short story "is a very narrow, thin blazing light," he
says. "It
reveals everything by the clarity of what's pinned in that
beam."
I quote because I can find no better way to phrase it
myself.
Andy
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