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Welcome to The Literary Pig's blog - a safe haven for all those afflicted with
the unbearable urge to write.

Monday, 23 January 2012

What do you call a writer of short stories?

2012 is going to be a good year for short stories as several publishing houses launch anthologies or ranges of short story collections....Bloomsbury are publishing 5 short story collections READ HERE for more details over the first five months of the year – hence they’ve dubbed 2012: Year of the Short Story. [Perhaps it would be more fitting if they published twelve anthologies...]
January 19 saw the publication of the first anthology from Lucy Wood – her collection of Cornish folktales 'Diving Belles'.  You can also listen to these on Radio4Extra, starting today at 11am (Monday 23 January) and continuing each weekday at 11am until Friday.  Listen in or download for later.  I've heard extracts and the stories sound intriguing and quirky.  Her writing has been likened to that of the great adult fairy-story teller, Angela Carter.  This is one to go on my reading list...

In January the Daily Telegraph launched its contribution with the Short Story Club, which incorporates a monthly competition (FREE entry) for short story writers... Helen Yendall writes here on her blog in more detail.

So if a novelist writes novels then what do you call someone who writes short stories (shorts)?  A shortie, perhaps?  Hmm... the indoor writer is already vertically challenged (and a bit sensitive about it) so I don't think she'll go for that label.
Which leads onto the question of: what do you call someone who writes Flash Fiction?  No comment from me...

6 comments:

  1. It's good news that short stories are being taken seriously again - they seemed to be going out of favour the last few years.

    I think I'll stick with 'writer' as that'll fit whatever I attempt.

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  2. I wonder if availability of shorts and anthologies as ebooks or downloads etc is boosting the trend. I just hope the resurrection of the short story continues as it's a much overlooked genre.

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  3. It still leaves you with the question: what do you call a writer of short stories?

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  4. Being a writer, I would love to know the answer to this question as well. I write short stories, poems and plays. I like to challenge my mind.

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  5. What do you call a writer of short stories

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