Short fiction: an articulation

[kaberett]

I really struggle with short fiction, particularly in anthologies. I'm averse to getting started and I have to make myself pick them back up, even if I know I like the authors, even though I know I frequently really like several pieces in any given anthology.

It's about task-switching, isn't it. Every new short story is a new task, with new information and names and mechanics to keep track of, and anthologies condense those down, and I never have time to settle in and stop doing the work of understanding all of the surface (in order to understand the innards). And that's why even individual shorts by authors I know I adore are difficult (if they're out-universe to novels).

It's nice to know why, at least.

Comments

[hilarita]

Yup. I find short fiction difficult for this too. Well, obviously, this doesn't apply to fanfic, because you've already bootstrapped all the knowledge.
Also, I find graphic novels difficult, because I'm distracted by the art on the opposite page, or on feature panels. I find Girl Genius much better, because it's only a page at a time (and I can spot the wasp-eater weaseloids!)

[rmc28]

Yesyesyes! This is why I find short pro fiction hard but can mainline a dozen 1000-10,000 word fanfics in an evening. It's the context-switching.

[kaberett]

Weirdly it also doesn't apply to poetry for me -- but actually I think this is because I cleave very hard to short poems (<25 lines, say) that are about mood pictures or single instants rather than narratives. *chinhands*

[shehasathree]

Yeeep. *identifies with*

[shewhostaples]

Ah, that goes *ping*. (I do enjoy short stories, but not at all for the reason I like poetry. ETA: but the majority of short stories that I read are not sci-fi, so there's less worldbuilding to get my head around.)

[hilarita]

Likewise. Mind you, poetry often comes light on context to load for that poem. I mean, it often comes with cultural wossname, but I've often assimilated that already (e.g. mystics, Christian symbolism, 19th century industrialisation).
Or you can read Paradise Lost, where you have fucking forever to load the context...

[frith_in_thorns]

I was finally able to realise a year or so ago this is why I'm generally reluctant to watch films, and only rarely get around to doing so. A canon packed into two hours which then just stops is waaaaay less enjoyable to me than being able to marathon TV shows. Or read books. Nice long ones. :)

[xmc]

Yes! Me too! Also: picking a TV show takes just as much effort as picking a film, but you get so much more story out of a show.

[kaberett]

Yeah, audiovisual media is hard for me anyway; people have to sit me down in front of a thing they actively like and be enthusiastic at me and willing to tell me which brown-haired white dude the one currently on screen is, but TV I can then go off and watch by myself after the first few episodes, which is... just not something that really even applies to film, with very few exceptions (e.g. I know what to expect from Tim Burton so it's easier).

[rysmiel]

Oh, that makes a lot of sense. I think that's pretty much why my brain is no good with short fiction, also; it's certainly a very good match for how.

Also, hi. *hug* Sorry for not being around so much recently; brain is taking advantage of significant time on my own to go flop a lot.

[kaberett]

no worries - mine is not being great for actual interaction as opposed to typing in the DW update box.

[simont]

*nodnod* Yes, I've always thought this too. I'm often reluctant to start reading new pieces of fiction in general, because the effort of getting into a new story and orienting yourself in its universe, characters, backplot etc is the most chore-like part of the whole business, and if I'm a bit tired or low on cope, it can be daunting. And with a full-length novel, that initial outlay of effort is paid back by getting to read and enjoy the rest of it, but with a collection of short stories, every 30 pages I've got to do it all over again.

[kaberett]

yessssss. (& so glad it's not just me! I was half-convinced it was a personal failing, and I've been picking at why for at least a year at this point, so it's nice to have sorted it out for myself and to have corroboration.)

[forestofglory]

Interesting, this makes a lot of sense. (Do you have an easier time with linked short fiction? Or short fiction set in the same world as novel you like?)

[kaberett]

Short fiction set in the world of a novel I liked I can do (so all of the Imperial Radch stuff; all of the October Daye stuff). Linked short fiction, once I've got into it, ditto (Benjanun Sriduangkaew's is the stuff that springs to mind).

[forestofglory]

Huh, I the Imperial Radch stuff is pretty disconnected form the books, wasn't sure it would work for you.

Are you an N.K. Jemisin fan? She's just put out a collection of shorts set in her Inheritance Trilogy world.

For interconnected shorts I'd recommend Aliette de Bodard's Xuya stories

[sfred]

Yes, me too. It's taking me months to plough through Long Hidden (anthology) even though it's great, because of a new start every few pages.

I find collections of short fiction all by the same author much easier because I don't have to get used to a new voice, especially if they're not SFF or are all set in the same universe.

[kaberett]

Yes! Precisely. All same universe helps so much (which is to some extent why I was more okay with Nnedi Okorafor's Kabu Kabu than I was with Long Hidden - single-author collection, lots in the same 'verse, with 'verse overlap with novels).

[sgsabbage]

Interestingly, for me I find this holds for short fiction by authors such as Neil Gaiman - I bought Trigger Warning a while back and am finding it quite hard to work through at the moment for this very reason. It's a lot of work to pick up a new story that I don't have much energy for.

On the other hand, I can devour a book of short sci-fi stories by Arthur C. Clarke or his like. Perhaps because he often explains the world you're dropped into. Or maybe it's because it's meant to be our future, and so the logic leaps to reach it are often much smaller than that of fantasy.

That said, I have a deep love of hard sci-fi, so.

[shehasathree]

Oh. Yes. thank-you!
Maybe I can start convincing myself that my apathy/antipathy towards short stories isn't a personal failure!

[kaberett]

<3! Delighted to help.

[vass]

Me too! Exactly! Thank you.

[kaberett]

♥ you're very welcome. xx

[umadoshi]

*lightbulb* That makes so much sense.

I think I may also have a bit of resistance to short fiction because if I don't bond with the characters, I don't tend to feel much connection to a story (in any format), but if I do, I'll want more time with them. :/

[fyreharper]

This makes sense! Mostly if I read short stories it is on the train, which is a short ride and I can get through a story or maybe two and then I'd have to put it down anyway. So then it is nice to have a thing that I can get through all of, and don't have to reload later and it won't keep distracting me from doing the next things I should be doing (like feeding myself, or work).