If you ask any great writer how they came to excel at their craft you’ll continuously get the same answer: Read other people’s writing.
Anyone who essentially eats, sleeps and writes knows with absolute certainty that this is sage advice. The ability to construct a self-contained narrative and to emotionally impact the reader in the span of 10 to 20 pages is nothing short of incredible. These four short stories inspire me both as a reader and as a writer and I hope you’re able to get something out of them too.
- The Things They Carried — Tim O’Brien
Tim O’Brien can instantly transport you to a place and time you’ve never been to, and his short story “The Things They Carried” is a prime example of this magic. The genius of this work is it’s difficult to say whether or not it’s a commentary on the Vietnam War, or, simply what happened. O’Brien’s time in battle inspired aspects of this piece, but it in no way romanticizes the act of war. In fact, he leans into discomfort and presents not just the startling gore and physicality of battle, but the psychological agony. The structure of this story is told almost entirely by O’Brien listing items the soldiers were carrying, revealing priorities, hopes, dreams and fears along the way.
“They shared the weight of memory. They took up what others could no longer bear. Often, they carried each other, the wounded or weak.
They carried the land itself—Vietnam, the place, the soil—a powdery orange-red dust that covered their boots and fatigues and faces.”
- Refresh, Refresh — Benjamin Percy
Published in The Paris Review, Benjamin Percy’s “Refresh, Refresh” focuses not on the effects of a war on the soldiers — but on those who were left behind.
This short story is set during the Iraq War and examines cycles of violence, toxic masculinity and unresolved grief. The town of Crowe, Oregon finds itself devoid of men. Husbands, fathers and brothers have been sent off to battle, leaving young boys like Josh and Gordon to toughen up and, as the story iterates over and over again, make their fathers proud.
Even as Josh and Gordon refresh their emails in hopes of their fathers’ replies and feel fleeting moments of compassion for their bully, Cody, who is missing his father as well. Both are unable to break free of the violent ties that bind them to their town and ultimately to their country.
“Our fathers haunted us. They were everywhere: in the grocery store when we spotted a thirty-pack of Coors on sale for ten bucks; on the highway when we passed a jacked-up Dodge with a dozen hay bales stacked in its bed; in the sky when a jet roared by, reminding us of faraway places. And now, as our bodies thickened with muscle, as we stopped shaving and grew patchy beards, we saw our fathers even in the mirror.”
- Sonny’s Blues — James Baldwin
James Baldwin’s narrative story “Sonny’s Blues” explores cycles and patterns through the experience of Sonny, a young man living in Harlem whose substance use disorder and journey to recovery are explored through the eyes of his older brother.
Baldwin tackles deeply intricate issues in this piece like addiction and acts of racial violence, and articulates them in an impactful way. How do we show up for our siblings? How can we protect them from the evils of the world? How do we listen to one another?
This piece doesn’t shy away from the intense suffering of substance use disorder and instead highlights the deeply flawed but ultimately fiercely loving relationship between two brothers.
“Neither did they dare to make a great scene about that piano because even they dimly sensed, as I sensed, from so many thousands of miles away that Sonny was at that piano playing for his life.”
- Bullet in The Brain — Tobias Wolff
Ever wondered what it would be like to have your life flash before your eyes? Well, apparently Tobias Wolff did too. Book critic and overall jerk Anders walks us through his last moments after a few too many wisecracks during a bank robbery results in … well … a bullet in the brain. Notably, Wolff does not list what Anders does remember — but what he does not. He doesn’t remember past loves, his wife, his daughter or even his career.
Instead, Anders is transported to a sunlit baseball field from his childhood. Wolff’s genius lies in his ability to give us so many details about Anders’ life without the cliche of his life flashing before him.
The addition of “he did not remember” before each item builds the reader’s anticipation as they wonder what moment could be so impactful that Anders spends his remaining seconds of life there.
“This is what he remembered. Heat. A baseball field. Yellow grass, the whirr of insects, himself leaning against a tree as the boys of the neighborhood gather for a pickup game. The captains, precociously large boys named Burns and Darsch, argue the relative genius of Mantle and Mays. They have been worrying this subject all summer, and it has become tedious to Anders; an oppression, like the heat.”
Each of these works allows the reader to gain insight into the human condition through authors who do not shy away from discomfort but explore it through their writing. Short story writers only have a mere few pages to leave an impression, but when it is done right, you are left with stories like these that will inspire writers for generations to come.
