Since the beginning, heroic stories of great feats and daring adventure have always been long epic tales. From the poetry and narratives of Homer and Ovid, to Le Morte d'Arthur of Sir Mallory, mythical stories, legends, and now modern fantasy stories have become long tombs covering multiple publications with thousands and thousands of pages. Sales figures for such lengthy stories continue to climb as each successive generation acclimates to longer and longer story arcs. In modern publishing history, what may have started with a prequel and simple trilogy with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, has now turned into series that span 3, 6, 9, or even 14 books.
Yet there is a discrepancy.
We are told that because of the Internet, YouTube, Twitter, etc. that our attention spans are getting shorter; our ability to remember details over the course of a long story is less and less; we can't follow narratives that arc across various episodes or chapters. The fiction we buy, and the shows we watch tend to contradict those statements though. In fact, book sales figures indicate just the opposite. Modern readers demand fantasy at least a trilogy, and while science fiction fans will enjoy stand-alone novels, they too like trilogies and longer.
In the pulp fiction days, writers were able to make a living writing short stories, and many rarely wrote novels. It wasn't unusual though for some authors to write serial stories published over several issues. The days of making a living writing short fiction are long gone, and modern publishers rarely publish short story collections unless big names are attached - authors who have established a strong following through their novels - because of the poor sales of those collections.
I'm not the first to ponder this enigma: If our attention spans are so short, why isn't short fiction more popular? My regular Cheesy Readers know I'm a big fan of short fiction and I always encourage readers to buy and read it whether it's in magazine or book form. Short fiction is not a lost art, as many have proclaimed. It is as strong as ever, popular among writers, but only marginally so among those who aren't. There are many wonderful stories, adventures, and excellent writing in short stories. Many well-established novelists began with the short form and frequently continue to write it long after novels become their main vocation and revenue stream.
Honestly, put down your smartphone, quit checking your text message and Facebook updates, and instead pick up a short story collection. Read a story while waiting at the dentist, while waiting on your flight, or getting an oil change. Your life will be enriched and you'll be promoting an art form that very much needs your financial backing.
Until Next Time...
Shortly Yours,
Michael
Yet another example that just because an author isn't considered mainstream, or intellectual, doesn't mean that they don't have deep academic influences.
Something that was recently brought to my attention was J.K. Rowling's inspiration of the "three brothers and Death" folktale told by Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. According to two different sources I've researched, the parable was inspired by The Pardoner's Tale of Geoffrey Chaucer's Middle English epic poem Canterbury Tales.
I remember as I read that folktale that I thought it seemed vaguely familiar, but I didn't put it together until I read that above little bit of information. So I'm happy to have learned that Rowling not only read Canterbury Tales, but that she enjoyed it so much she modeled part of her fiction after it, and thereby indirectly exposing millions of children and adults to one of the greatest poems in the English language. Unfortunately many of Rowling's readers, adults and children, have never heard of the epic tale and will never read it, thus robbing themselves of a beautiful piece of historic poetry.
If given the chance, you should read Chaucer's work, or at least The Pardoner's Tale. At first, it may be difficult to read because of the archaic spellings*, but the more you read from it, the easier it gets. I promise you, you'll find it very rewarding.
Until Next Time...
Brotherly Yours,
Michael
*There were no dictionaries in the 14th century, so each author could spell a word any way they wanted. Some were known to spell the same word multiple ways throughout long texts.
Okay, not quite millions, but it's no secret that in the modern publishing era, romance novels outsell every other genre, and women make up a majority of book buyers in nearly every category of books except for war, science fiction, and sports. With the romance genre alone, women make up 84% of the purchasing market (note: I'm surprised it's that low, I didn't realize that men make up 16% of romance readers).
Ebooks haven't changed that trend too much. The overall male/female split of book purchasers remain the same, women are buying a lot more of their books as ebooks. In fact, ebooks have increased the sale of romance novels, but not necessarily in a way that has increased the profit of publishers. In fact, publishers are feeling the pain of ebooks because many authors, especially in the romance genre are self-publishing or publishing straight through Amazon, choosing to cut out the middle man. This lowers the costs of publishing and creates a higher profit margin for authors.
Yahoo! has an article with a lot more facts and figures, plus a few real stories of authors self-publishing and making a better living at writing now than they were before ebooks.
If you're interested in learning more, just follow this news link to the Yahoo! article.
Until Next Time...
Trendily Yours,
Michael
