Thread: Novel of short stories

I started writing a series of short stories. They follow the same mc in chronological order. I could put them together as a novel, well eventually. But they are each self contained stories. You wouldn't need to read the whole thing.

Would that be a really odd way to put together a novel? Or would it be considered a collection of short stories?

Moral Disorder, Margaret Atwood ... highly recommended, she mostly calls it short stories
Love Medicine, Louisa Erdrick ... Published as a good enough first novel, I'd sure take it

What's missing is the overt plot arc one commonly associates with most books published as novels.
Although some really good novels don't really have one anyway.

Thanks. I will check those out, if the local library has them.

I do worry that it will make marketing it more difficult. Not that I should worry too much right now. It still has a long way to go.

Also want to add Jesus' Son, by Denis Johnson. I'm pretty sure it was published as a short story collection and not a novel, but it contains self-contained stories (which I don't think are arranged in 100% chronological order), all with the same narrator (a heroin addict at various stages in his dependence/recovery). It's a great collection, and very short (I think the first time I read it was in one sitting)

My gut tells me that yes, it would be harder to query for something like this than an actual novel. But shrug. Also, you could submit the individual stories to magazines at first, and then query for the collection later, so you have some flexibility.

Would it be better to start shopping the stories now? I have the first couple done and I could. And if they get published would that make it more difficult or easier to get them published as a collection or novel later?

I like the idea. Seems it would be easier to edit.

Originally Posted by Kat

And if they get published would that make it more difficult or easier to get them published as a collection or novel later?

I'm no editor, but in most of the collections I've read, at least some (if not all) of the stories have been published in well known, reputable, print magazines. So it can't hurt to try.

Sherwood Anderson wrote a book of short stories that were all tied together because they happened in his hometown - Winesburg, Ohio.

What about Don Quixote?

I've got the same kind of thing working in one of my novels as well. Each of the chapters is a complete story unto itself but the chapters all form a cohesive unit to tell an overall story. And there is a clear primary thread or goal that runs through all of the chapters/stories which leads the main character to his resolution. I am only about half way, maybe slightly more, through the book but the chapters are outlined to maintain the the progress toward that goal.

i think you'll have a harder time selling it than, say, a conventional novel, but an easier time selling it than a regular collection of stories. shopping the individual pieces is definitely a good idea, because the chances of you selling the collection without doing so is pretty slim. a lot of successful recent 'novels' are really linked story collections. think of:

bloodletting and miraculous cures by vincent lam

the imperfectionists by tom rachman

stuff by alice munro

everything is illuminated started as stories but then got integrated into a novel

etc.

my advice would either be to try to get as many pieces in good journals and do the whole interconnected-stories thing, OR whip them together into a more conventional novel. the latter is harder to do but will probably make it easier to sell.