AuntShecky
03-23-2011, 12:59 PM
This is a repeat posting originally part of an earlier thread which has been closed, per my request.
This is strictly an informational thread posted with the hopes that some LitNutters-- especially those who wish to try their hands at writing their own stories--can consult.
These titles and authors were chosen as examples of stories which
(A) Open with a scene in medias res -- and
(B) Express said scene in a way that "shows" rather than "tells."
Therefore these choices (to my mind at least)should not be considered to be contentious. In other words, it would be better not to squander bandwidth by post replies arguing about the validity of these choices.
It is fine with me if repliers were to:
A. add to the list of examples of stories which have similar dynamic openings which "show" rather than "tell" and/or
B. further elaborate, in a positive way, on the titles which have already been posted.
I hope the requests above ^^^do not ruffle any feathers. Keep in mind that LitNetters have the option of starting their own threads on this topic or post a blog in which one is free to vilify the choices or the person who chose them to his heart's content!
Here are some titles and authors of short stories which I gathered up the other day. All of them have "grand openings" which hit the ground running, so to speak, by "showing" rather than "telling." Look up as many of the stories that you can either in anthologies available at your public library, or online. (If the latter, please start your search right here, in the forums of the Online Literature Network.)
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" The opening paragraph grabs the reader by the----neck. During my own schooldays, back in the Jurassic Era, I remember being told that one's education is not complete until he reads The Education of Henry Adams. I would include Ambrose Bierce's classic Civil War story to that prescription.
Stephen Crane: "The Open Boat," "The Little Regiment," and "The Veteran."
Kafka: "A Country Doctor" (Opens in an strangely interesting way, but it can be argued that the ending is even eerier!)
Edgar Allen Poe "The Tell-Tale Heart"
Ernest Hemingway "My Old Man"
Sarah Orne Jewett "A White Heron"
Edith Wharton "A Journey"
Willa Cather "A Death in the Desert"
William Carlos Williams "The Girl with a Pimply Face" (WCW is known for his poetry,mainly, but please take a look at the opening of this story. Langston Hughes is another poet who produced some good short fiction.)
John Cheever "A Country Husband"
"The Five-Forty-Eight" (The note about Ambrose Bierce above applies to this story as well.)
Bernard Malamud "The Jew Bird" (If you are going to read any of these stories on this list, please make it this one.)
"The Model"
I also like "The Magic Barrel" but I have to admit that offhand I don't remember how it opens, just that the story as a whole was great.
John Sayles "The Halfway Diner"
Sayles is known primarily as a film-maker, but this story, written in the 1980s, is so timely and socially observant it could have been written yesterday. The evocative and poignant opening truly hooks the reader.
Raymond Carver
"Are These Actual Miles?"
"A Small, Good Thing"
A would-be short story writer could hardly choose a better modern writer to try to emulate. Please keep in mind that some of Carver's short stories are set in the present tense, which probably should be avoided, unless one can maneuver around the present tense as masterfully as Carver does.
Saul Bellow "A Silver Dish"
Donald Barthelme -- all of 'em, especially "A Shower of Gold" and "Game."
John Updike "A & P" has an opening that will stop you in your tracks. Another early story, "Pigeon Feathers" has plenty of examples within the body of the text in which the narrator "shows" rather than tells.
And finally, to Mr. Scrupulous Meanness himself:
A quick look through Dubliners makes me think that all of the stories in that book have exemplary opening passages, but especially, "Araby," "After the Race," "The Dead," and "Clay." Elements of Fiction, the tiny but indispensable booklet by Robert Scholes, offers a most enlightening analysis of "Clay."
This is strictly an informational thread posted with the hopes that some LitNutters-- especially those who wish to try their hands at writing their own stories--can consult.
These titles and authors were chosen as examples of stories which
(A) Open with a scene in medias res -- and
(B) Express said scene in a way that "shows" rather than "tells."
Therefore these choices (to my mind at least)should not be considered to be contentious. In other words, it would be better not to squander bandwidth by post replies arguing about the validity of these choices.
It is fine with me if repliers were to:
A. add to the list of examples of stories which have similar dynamic openings which "show" rather than "tell" and/or
B. further elaborate, in a positive way, on the titles which have already been posted.
I hope the requests above ^^^do not ruffle any feathers. Keep in mind that LitNetters have the option of starting their own threads on this topic or post a blog in which one is free to vilify the choices or the person who chose them to his heart's content!
Here are some titles and authors of short stories which I gathered up the other day. All of them have "grand openings" which hit the ground running, so to speak, by "showing" rather than "telling." Look up as many of the stories that you can either in anthologies available at your public library, or online. (If the latter, please start your search right here, in the forums of the Online Literature Network.)
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" The opening paragraph grabs the reader by the----neck. During my own schooldays, back in the Jurassic Era, I remember being told that one's education is not complete until he reads The Education of Henry Adams. I would include Ambrose Bierce's classic Civil War story to that prescription.
Stephen Crane: "The Open Boat," "The Little Regiment," and "The Veteran."
Kafka: "A Country Doctor" (Opens in an strangely interesting way, but it can be argued that the ending is even eerier!)
Edgar Allen Poe "The Tell-Tale Heart"
Ernest Hemingway "My Old Man"
Sarah Orne Jewett "A White Heron"
Edith Wharton "A Journey"
Willa Cather "A Death in the Desert"
William Carlos Williams "The Girl with a Pimply Face" (WCW is known for his poetry,mainly, but please take a look at the opening of this story. Langston Hughes is another poet who produced some good short fiction.)
John Cheever "A Country Husband"
"The Five-Forty-Eight" (The note about Ambrose Bierce above applies to this story as well.)
Bernard Malamud "The Jew Bird" (If you are going to read any of these stories on this list, please make it this one.)
"The Model"
I also like "The Magic Barrel" but I have to admit that offhand I don't remember how it opens, just that the story as a whole was great.
John Sayles "The Halfway Diner"
Sayles is known primarily as a film-maker, but this story, written in the 1980s, is so timely and socially observant it could have been written yesterday. The evocative and poignant opening truly hooks the reader.
Raymond Carver
"Are These Actual Miles?"
"A Small, Good Thing"
A would-be short story writer could hardly choose a better modern writer to try to emulate. Please keep in mind that some of Carver's short stories are set in the present tense, which probably should be avoided, unless one can maneuver around the present tense as masterfully as Carver does.
Saul Bellow "A Silver Dish"
Donald Barthelme -- all of 'em, especially "A Shower of Gold" and "Game."
John Updike "A & P" has an opening that will stop you in your tracks. Another early story, "Pigeon Feathers" has plenty of examples within the body of the text in which the narrator "shows" rather than tells.
And finally, to Mr. Scrupulous Meanness himself:
A quick look through Dubliners makes me think that all of the stories in that book have exemplary opening passages, but especially, "Araby," "After the Race," "The Dead," and "Clay." Elements of Fiction, the tiny but indispensable booklet by Robert Scholes, offers a most enlightening analysis of "Clay."