a comment on art by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was specifically addressing the benefits of attending university creative writing programs when he wrote, "The primary benefit of practicing any art, whether well or badly, is that it enables one's soul to grow." Most of us writers won't get the opportunity to attend an established writing program. But many of us can be blessed enough to hook up with a supportive and talented group of writers, hopefully for critique groups, or workshops and conferences, or just to share the "rapture and misery," the moments atop the mountain and the dark nights in the gutters of doubt and insecurity. If our soul is to grow through the practice of our art we can find encouragement and security in the company of other practitioners of the art.

Don't know a single soul who writes? Try one or both of these online communities:
WritersCafe.org or Fictionaut.com

short stories in the fiction market

It's no secret the fiction market is changing. With the ever-lowering price of e-book readers, efforts by online retailers to squeeze out agents and publishers, and falling stock prices of the big box booksellers, what sells and makes money in the fiction market is becoming narrower and narrower. I once read in a feature article in The Writer's Market that trying to make a living as a poet ensured a life of poverty . . . or, something to that effect. I used to buy collections of poetry. I can't remember the last time I did. Sadly, the reality of a shrinking poetry section in most bookstores is commonplace. It seems, more and more, the same can be said of the short story market.

Kurt Vonnegut once remarked, "This country used to be crazy about short stories." I think those days have passed. Recently, I hunted in the latest Writer's Market for magazines to submit short fiction for the YA/teen market. Not counting faith-based magazines, there were four listings, only one of which paid any amount worth considering if one actually tried to make a living selling short stories. The current feeling is one has to be a sought-out writer to get paid any decent amount for a short story, meaning the writer is already a decently-paid novelist.

Flash fiction and short story fiction appears to be most appreciated and published in online e-zines. There are some fantastic online literary magazines out there, but most of the ones I've run across pay little to nothing. Like most online content, the general public feels it should be free.

I can't say I don't contribute to the decline in the short story market. A few weeks ago I stumbled across a recent short story by Katherine Dunn, one of my favorite writers, in The Paris Review. Online, I could read the first few pages, but to read the rest of the story, I had to order a copy. I'm not against paying for content, but looking through the remainder of the magazine's content for that issue, Dunn's story was the only thing I was eager to read. Or, pay $15 bucks, for that matter.

I'd love to see a website similiar to ITunes, where I could download one short story for .99 cents. Heck, I'd pay at least $1.50 a short story for decent writers. They don't have to be well-known, just strong writers. I don't want short story collections to go the way of poetry collections, market losers purchased by the literary elite off the "last chance" bargin table. Won't Apple or a smart start-up create IStories for me?

oh, those writers . . .

Feeling a bit snarky today. In honor of the smug snark that lies in the hearts of every writer now and then, two quotes from two of the greats.

"This is what I find encouraging about the writing trade: They allow mediocre people who are patient and industrious to revise their stupidity, to edit themselves into something like intelligence. They also allow lunatics to seem saner than sane." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

"They always think that if you write well you're somehow cheating, you're not being democratic by writing as badly as everybody else does." - Gore Vidal

Raowww! Writers, please, retract your claws.