In my bio I say I’m
a mystery author and I draw attention to the books in my series. I guess you’d
deduce from the bio that I’m a novelist. Yes, but I also write short stories,
from very short flash fiction on up. Since I’m in the midst of four different
series, you may wonder why I continue to carve out spaces of my precious time
for short fiction. That’s easy—I love it. I love reading and writing it, and
short stories come to me more naturally than novels. I also love to write
novels, once I get into them and over the dread of beginning a new one. But
some short stories can be wrapped up quickly, giving me instant satisfaction.
Why do I keep
writing short fiction for publication, since most of it pays very poorly, if at
all? At this point, one reason is because I’ve gotten to know the community of
short mystery fiction writers, and feel comfortable answering calls for
submissions when they comes. (That doesn’t mean all my submissions get
accepted—far from it.)
But another big
reason is for promotion. I do think short fiction can help promote a novel
writer. How? Several ways.
1) They get your
name in front of readers. The more times people see your name in a short story
anthology or magazine, the more apt they are to remember it and to recognize it
when they see your books in the bookstore or online.
2) They make
wonderful gifts. I have a free audio short story on my webpage, “Driving out of
Dumas.” (http://kayegeorge.com/)
(Sometimes there are two of them.) It’s there to thank people for looking me up and visiting my page. It also can
give visitors a feel for my one of my voices and my style. If they like it,
maybe they’ll plunk down money for a book or two. I also give away my own
collection (A PATCHWORK OR STORIES) on occasion.
3) They can promote
specific novels. I haven’t done nearly as much of this as I’d like, but, for my
Imogene Duckworthy series, I’ve started putting out a few short stories
featuring Immy. So far, I’ve written three pre-stories about her early life, as
a young child. Since, when the novels start, her father has been dead for a few
years (killed when she was eleven), I found it fun to resurrect him and have
him live in the shorts.
(“Snatched
Potatoes” in KINGS RIVER LIFE AT http://kingsriverlife.com/06/11/snatched-potatoes-fathers-day-mystery-short-story/,
“As the Screw Turns” in Mysterical-E Spring-Summer 2012 edition, and
“Immy Goes to the Dogs” in UNTREED
DETECTIVES.)
There’s a secondary
character that I’m fascinated with in my second Cressa Carraway book, which
will be out in April 2016, so I explored her a bit further in “Streete
Crossing” which will appear in Mysterical-E next spring.
The above, using
novel characters, is probably the most direct way to promote the longer
fiction.
4) Short stories
are the best way for me to stretch myself and to try out new styles and
techniques. Answering a call for a themed submission makes me write to a topic
that someone else has decided upon. Sometimes that’s hard, sometimes it flows.
But the hard ones make me think. When I was asked to do a story about what some
characters would do and think if they knew the earth was going to end tomorrow,
I got to use a crazy phobia of mine that would never work for anything else.
(“The Last Wave” in NIGHTFALLS”)
I haven’t ever done
much with closed room mysteries, but a trip my husband took on a Mega Bus gave
me an idea, not only for a story, but for an anthology, MURDER ON WHEELS, that
came out in April from my Austin writing group, plus a couple of invited Texas
writers.
5) Akin to trying
out new things, I can do stuff that wouldn’t work in a longer form. For
instance, I did a story in second person present tense in ALL THINGS DARK AND
DASTARDLY (“You Can Do the Math”).
For Michael
Bracken’s publication, TEXAS GARDENER, I did a story entirely in want ads. (“Yellow
Roses”) Neither of those styles would work for too many pages! But they make, I
hope, a fun short read.
One of my very
latest publications is a short story, “Heartbreak at Graceland” in
MEMPHIS NOIR. This gave me the opportunity to pull off a murder method that had
been on my mind for a while.
Here’s a bit about
this anthology:
"A remarkable
picture of contemporary Memphis emerges in this Akashic noir volume...Something
for everyone."
--Publishers Weekly
--Publishers Weekly
Here’s my favorite part of PW’s review:
“One standout, Kaye George’s “Heartbreak at Graceland,” pays the
obligatory homage to Memphis’s Elvis Presley heritage, setting a powerful and
definitely dark narrative in the late rocker’s home.”
My very most recent
story is “This Isn’t the Way” and was used for the cover of FLASH BANG’s
January issue. See what you think.
My story: http://flashbangmysteries.com/current-issue/winter-jan-2016-no-2/this-isnt-the-way-by-kaye-george/
