Legendary Short Story Writers and What We Can Learn From Them

“It was a joy. Words weren’t dull, words were things that could make your mind hum. If you read them and let yourself feel the magic, you could live without pain, with hope, no matter what happened to you.”

Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski (1982)

A powerful short story can carve itself in the mind and stay with us for years, the characters, the emotions, and the words behind them all playing their magic without us realizing.

In this rapidly paced modern society, a short story can work wonders to bring back the slow appeal of literature. Did the writers of some of the best short stories think the same? Why did they write short stories when they had the prowess of writing long, gripping novels? Were their works revolutionary?

This article will serve as a guide to why short stories hold so much appeal; it will also muse on some legendary short stories and the masterminds behind them.

The Undeniable Appeal Of A Short Story

Short stories offer us the world through their unique lens. Whether it is horror, thriller, or romance, they hold the power to blur the boundaries between reality and words.

I recall the exact moment I fell in love with reading short stories. It happened the first time I read one; the format immediately caught my heart and mind. Suddenly, bright flashes illuminated everything, but I could also see the shadows. I felt everything that was written vividly. The characters, their despair, loneliness, grief, and defeat – so raw and gripping.

I recall the exact moment I fell in love with reading short stories. It happened the first time I read one; the format immediately caught my heart and mind. Suddenly, bright flashes illuminated everything, but I could also see the shadows. I felt everything that was written vividly. The characters, their despair, loneliness, grief, and defeat – so raw and gripping.

Some Legendary Short Story Writers

Let’s take a look at some of the most renowned short story writers and their famous literary masterpieces:

Ernest Hemingway

American novelist and short-story writer Ernest Hemingway significantly influenced 20th-century literature. The Nobel Prize in Literature winner was hailed as one of the most famous short story writers in his lifetime. Some of his most well-known works include A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the Sea, and The Sun Also Rises.

Hemingway’s characters unmistakably represent his own morals and outlook on life. Hemingway saw war as an emblem of a complex, morally ambiguous world. He portrayed its effects in stories made up of short sentences, rid of all verbosity that punched the reader in their guts.

Robert Olen Butler

Robert Olen Butler, the author of the 1992 short story collection Good Scent From a Strange Mountain, won the Pulitzer Prize. He is regarded as something of a literary shapeshifter who sheds and adapts words, aesthetics, and styles depending on the tone of the story. His stories draw inspiration from his own experiences as a young man growing up in rural Illinois, serving as an officer during the Vietnam War, and working jobs as a mill laborer. This all can be seen in shifts and changes in his characters and themes, giving the readers something new, entertaining, yet still gripping.

Raymond Carver

Carver’s first literary success came in 1967 with the story Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? His hugely popular short story collections What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (1981), Cathedral (1984), and Where I’m Calling From were his later works and were known as the best short story collections at the time.

In his short stories, Carver documented the issues and day-to-day struggles of the working class in the Pacific Northwest. His working-class characters suffer from the suffocation from ruined marriages, the constant doom of financial instability, and fallen careers. His work offers a sense of realism to the readers, making it easy for them to resonate with the words they are reading.

Damon Runyon

He was born in Kansas but it was New York City he fell in love with. His short stories in fact represent the city perfectly, so fittingly that his avid readers, me included, think of New York City as soon as we think of Runyon. He’s hailed as a ‘Chronicler of Broadway lowlifes’, because not many people could instil life and frenzy in the streets of NYC like Runyon’s stories.

He’s most famous for his amazing short stories that you must read, The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown and Blood Pressure, which combined to produce his musical Guys and Dolls (1932). It’s known that Runyon was inspired by real life acquaintances, from which he drew his characters. Realness and carnal vividity jumps out in his prose.

Lorrie Moore

Even as a teenager, Moore was known for her comical interpretations of seemingly everyday situations. Her debut collection, Self-Help, had several stories that parodied other well-known self-help books at the time. It leveraged her as one of the best female short story writers in the 21st century. Her short story How to Be a Writer from her collection Self-Help is a comical take on how fame tips the most prestigious writers into conceit and silliness. Moore’s ability to turn real-life instances into satirical comedy is still praised throughout the literary community.

Conclusion: The Words In Hiding

In short and abrupt strings, words can emit the chills of horror, and woven with beautiful adjectives, they can be whimsical fairy tales. All these legendary short story writers understood that, and they tried to portray the same.

Inspired by a similar fire, from the hassles of life and daily inspiration, I, Jenny Zimmer, too wrote my short story collection in A Carpet of Violets and Clover. This is more of a flash fiction collection though–little delectable bites that pop in your minds. In them, I have condensed a small essence of my self and soul. I have been told whoever gives it a read ends up smiling, tearing up, laughing. But most importantly, feeling alive. Perhaps head over to the Amazon link above to find out?

If you’re more the poetry kind, try All the Moments are Real.