Save the Short Story

THE EDITOR IS IN this Sunday (and next Sunday)

Pei-Ling — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:46:20 +0000

I’ll be at the One Story booth at The (Makers) Market at the OA Can Factory in Brooklyn this Sunday. I’m starting a new enterprise–we are offering mini-mentorships to short story writers. I’ve always wished that I had the time to offer personal rejection letters to our submitters.

We get so many submissions per day, which makes this impossible, especially since we don’t want to charge a reading fee.

The owner of the Can Factory has been asking us to man a booth at the Makers Market for ages and I came up with an Editor is In booth, sort of like Lucy’s booth from Peanuts, except instead of psychological counseling, we would give editing advice.

Here’s are the basics: In a 15-minute private session, a One Story fiction editor will discuss your story. The editor will read your submission in advance and will come to the mentorship with specific feedback about your story and practical information on how you can strengthen your submissions and query letters.

So I hope to see you there!

To sign up for a mentorship, click here.

Dates:Sunday, March 14, 2010 & Sunday, March 21, 2010

Times:11am - 5pm

Location:The Maker’s Market at The Old American Can Factory

230 3rd St.Brooklyn, NY

Cost:$25

Wild Child Trailer

Pei-Ling — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:46:43 +0000

There’s this new trend in publishing that uses video trailers to launch books. We used to only see this kind of thing for James Patterson books on late night television, but those were just pictures of the book cover and that really creepy voice announcing the title.

Recently, Jamieson Fry, a filmmaker who loves short stories (and One Story!) contacted me about this new trailer he shot for T.C. Boyle’s collection, Wild Child: and Other Stories.

He wrote:

“I aimed for a quick two-shot vignette for each story, so that the viewer can get a feel for what it’s like to browse through a collection of stories you’ve read and loved (for viewers who have already read the book and know why they’re seeing what they’re seeing) or the feeling of picking up a collection at the store and flipping through it, just catching story titles and a brief impression.”

Wild Child from jamieson on Vimeo.

Color Coordinated One Story Reader

Pei-Ling — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:18:04 +0000

Here is my sister reading Bomb Jockey:

Remembering J.D. Salinger’s Nine Stories

Pei-Ling — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:17:52 +0000

A few days after my friend Amanda and I introduced J.D. Salinger’s Nine Stories to a friend of ours, he called us up and said, “I read the book you gave me and now I’ve been lying on the floor just staring at my ceiling fan for the past few hours.”

Very slowly, we told him to, “Put the book doooown and come over to our place. Now.”

It’s one of those books that really should come with a warning label.

Most people remember Salinger as the author of The Catcher in the Rye, but I was much more moved by his short stories. I find myself going back to Nine Stories, rereading certain stories whenever I need a reminder of what I should be searching for in the slush pile or a lesson on how to craft dialogue. It serves as my touchstone for great fiction. His stories are genuine and true and deceptively simple.

I first heard the news of his death on the 5:00 pm news, which just happened to be on while I was sitting in the living room. Sade Baderinwa announced it as the fifth or sixth story of the day and it was simply “J.D. Salinger died today at the age of 91.” There was no register of any deeper thought in her eyes and no solemnity in her voice–it was just another news item to slog through.

My husband and I looked at each other, totally stunned that it wasn’t the opening news story that night. But after the initial surprise, I suppose that Salinger would have preferred it that way.

The New Yorker published some remembrances, I especially liked the one Lillian Ross wrote. But the best tribute was “Bunch of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger” on The Onion website.

The Story Prize 2009 Finalists

Pei-Ling — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:42:49 +0000

The Story Prize has announced its three finalists this year:

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

by Daniyal Mueenuddin

Drift: Stories by Victoria Patterson

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned: Stories

by Wells Tower

The finalists were selected from 78 story collections from 53 different publishers or imprints.

The Story Prize is one of the largest prizes given for a collection of short stories. The winner is presented with $20,000 and an engraved silver bowl. The two runners-up both receive $5,000.

Last year I got on Larry Dark’s bad side when I implied that the last author listed always won the prize. Apparently, the authors are listed in alphabetical order and it was JUST A COINCIDENCE that the last author won several years in a row. Soooooo, that being said, my money’s on Wells Tower.

The awards ceremony will be held on March 3 at 7:30pm at the Tishman Auditorium in New York City. For tickets, contact the New School box office at 212-229-5488 or click here.

Let’s Declare the 2010s the Decade of the Short Story

Pei-Ling — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:24:50 +0000

According to The Guardian, 2009 was the year of the short story. I’m going to have to agree with them. After all, Oprah chose a short story collection for her book club for the very first time, Alice Munro won the Man Booker International, Elizabeth Strout’s short story collection was awarded the Pulitzer, and great short story collections were published.

One Story’s subscriptions are higher than ever, which surprised us–after all, the economy is forcing all of us to tighten our wallets.

It seems like the popularity of the short story may be on the rise. We must be doing a great job saving it. You can read the rest of what The Guardian said here.

The First Line

Pei-Ling — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 06:48:53 +0000

The start of a new year makes me think of the start of good things to come. I’ve been reading the most recent Pushcart Prize stories and I’ve been paying extra close attention to first lines–trying to come up with a perfect first line for the latest story I’m working on. Of course, this made me think of the The First Line.

A few weeks ago, I received a few issues of The First Line, which is a literary magazine that’s got a great concept. The editors have provided you with the first line already, so all you have to do is to continue the story. What I love about this magazine is that the stories are so vastly different from each other and the authors of the stories use the lines in really inventive ways.

So, New Year, New First Lines.

2010 First Lines:

Spring: Working for God is never easy. (submissions due Feb. 1)

Summer: Paul and Miriam Kaufman met the old-fashioned way. (due May 1)

Fall: Three thousand habitable planets in the known universe, and I’m stuck on the only one with ___________.[Fill in the blank.] (due Aug. 1)

Winter: Until I stumbled across an article about him in the paper, I never realized how much Walter Dodge and I are alike. (due Nov. 1)

Find out how to submit to them at www.thefirstline.com.

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays: The Short Story Gift Guide

Pei-Ling — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:26:01 +0000

This is the time of year many people are all out of gift ideas so I decided to compile a gift guide with suggestions for that special literary someone. I’ve always believed that a gift guide shouldn’t have a TON of items. So this is just a small list of books that I own or plan on purchasing. If you have other suggestions, please feel free to share them with me and leave comments.

And don’t you just love the covers on these books?

The holiday season is a great time to save the short story by buying books and supporting short story writers!

Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: Stories (P.S.)

What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us

Delicate Edible Birds: And Other Stories

Once the Shore: Stories

The Boat: Stories (Vintage)

St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves (Vintage Contemporaries)

Too Much Happiness: Stories

4 Debut Authors Short-Listed for Frank O’Connor Award

Pei-Ling — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:33:29 +0000

Last week I participated in a panel at Sarah Lawrence College discussing how to submit to magazines. My fellow panelist was an agent and she basically popped everyone’s hope balloon by telling them over and over again that no one wants to publish short story collections.

I know, I know, it’s the same old song and dance. I really hope that by telling people that everyone IS reading short stories and that there are more and more people writing great stories, we can reverse psychologize this misconception that we don’t want short stories.

Therefore, I was really happy to read that 4 out of 6 authors shortlisted for the Frank O’Connor award were debut authors. SOMEONE is publishing short stories by new authors–and they are being awarded with prizes!

Last year, the award judges decided not to publish a short list. Instead, they awarded the prize the Jhumpa Lahiri.

One Story authors Lydia Peelle and Lauren Groff were on the long list.

Read more about the authors here and here.

Alice Munro Wins the Man Booker International Prize

Pei-Ling — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:55:10 +0000

Doesn’t everyone love Alice Munro?

Alice Munro was announced as the winner of the third Man Booker International Prize. The panel made this comment:

“Alice Munro is mostly known as a short story writer and yet she brings as much depth, wisdom and precision to every short story as most novelists bring to a lifetime of novels. To read Alice Munro is to learn something every time that you never thought of before.”

You can read more about the prize here.