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Everywriter12/30/2023 With Carver’s work, you can go back and compare the two. Though it’s up for debate whether Carver was that strong of a writer or if Lish’s edits made him into the writer we’ve come to know, it’s interesting to consider how editing a story can change it. I’d be remiss to mention Gordon Lish’s influence over Carver’s work. Known for his sparse prose, Carver’s work has influenced a number of great contemporary writers his understanding of how people communicate is top-notch. Another collection set in the mid-West, it navigates the relationships between men and women who drink, who are down but not yet out, who are trying to communicate what is often difficult or too complex for words. The titular story, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” has been widely read in high schools and colleges, but there’s much more to Carver’s work than this single story. This collection by Raymond Carver doesn’t likely need an introduction. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver It’s a wonderful study of fiction and the human condition. The stories are concerned with the complexities of modern love and the importance of place, and the battles and victories that exist in seemingly harmless places - kitchens, living rooms, cars - in the American West. She examines the tensions between having and wanting her characters try to keep hold of opposing forces in their lives: innocence and experience, risk and stability, fidelity and desire. In Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It, Meloy’s stories carry great emotional power, written in a clean, assured style. Her world feels vibrant and alive the characters full of life.īoth Ways Is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy With a wonderful blend of humor and melancholy, her stories span from a small town in Alaska, the American Southwest, all the way down into South America. She has the uncanny ability to dive into heavier subjects while keeping it just light enough that it’s not repellant. Lucia Berlin’s writing is sharp and poignant. So, to narrow the field a bit, here are 5 short story collections every writer should own.Ī Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia BerlinĪ Manual for Cleaning Women has made its way on to numerous lists, and for good reason. Which books should we pick up and read? Which writers do we feel a kinship with, and whose content most aligns with our interests? Do we read novels? Do we read nonfiction? Short stories? Poetry? The options are seemingly endless. It’s hard to know exactly where to get started. While it might be “simple as that” for some, writers who are just getting started may be overwhelmed by the sheer number of books available to read. Though it is dangerous to buy into it wholly. And to some degree, this naivety can birth greatness. We trick ourselves into believing that what we have to say is the only time it's ever been going to be said, that our words are the most powerful in the world. But many writers may overlook this crucial step in the writing process. ![]() ![]() Writers must read to improve their own work and become more generative with their ideas. In his memoir on craft, On Writing, Stephen King wrote: “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time (or the tools) to write.” Then goes on to declare, “Simple as that.”
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