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Some of my favorite writing is single author short story sci-fi collections. Why are they so rare? https://t.co/TvtvnX44E2
@eshear This project is coming out soon..... https://t.co/rwJ8L2EKvT
I'm committing to a White Mirror book. Once the White Mirror cannon hits 50 stories, I'll publish. Ideally with all of the illustrations generated by AI trained on my style of drawing. The White Mirror cannon explores technologically positive futures: https://t.co/9ZeVOmkqJV https://t.co/D6H7ujcf8g
@eshear Market for shorts is very small. Even if you’re top tier for the form you can’t really make a living from it alone. I’m probably a top 1% short story writer (unremarkable on a global scale) and I had to content myself with it being a hobby. You really should check out Ruocchio.
@eshear My personal favorite https://t.co/gl9v8mja7B
@eshear one of my favourites is Liu Cixin's The Wandering Earth, the short story collection https://t.co/n6o1THtmgi
@eshear Hi I made one of those wanna check it out 👉👈 https://t.co/5Z6c0Akxfq
@eshear My hypothesis is that in order to go a really good twist or subversion, you need t o be familiar with tropes of the day. But undermining tropes is a violent thing. So you have to love them enough to break them and vice versa. That emotional contradiction is taxing.
@eshear Great selections. Some of Harlan Ellisons lost stories are coming out in a few months: https://t.co/DzUPL5uVss
@ptrckwnsch They’re most common in simple literary fiction, I think? But sci-fi and horror also have strong traditions. I’m more asking about why 1-author collection books seem less common now. https://t.co/Rr6BTsmTJi
@eshear I had started reading this one to look cool. Actually, ended up loving it. https://t.co/W0CrkQMryV
@eshear All these are so dense with fantastically high concept ideas. You can’t sit down and systematically manufacture ideas like that, they just come to you. I’d imagine the bottleneck is the time it takes to gather and bottle that much high-octane serendipity
@eshear Because you could write the best single author short story sci-fi collection on Earth, and become homeless and starve to death while doing so. Good short stories take a hell of a long time to write, and there is no real you-can-make-a-living market for them.
@eshear There are indie writers still carrying the torch. Just gotta know where to look. https://t.co/lXfdcSkAYm
@eshear I'd add @CKlosterman 's "Raised in Captivity" to the list, though it's a mix of sci-fi and just alternate reality odd stories, close enough to fit this genre: https://t.co/iOD4wBDfB8
@eshear heh I think this is part of it!! I think some genres like sci-fi/speculative are especially well-suited for short stories though, love Greg Egan 🥹 https://t.co/ANZBopgmt2
When you start getting some traction as a writer, traditional publishers push you towards writing novels - they are much more commercially viable. As others said, there used to be outlets for short sci-fi that paid decently well, but much less so now. It does feel like online markets should make short fiction more viable again.