I mean, every novel's a historical novel anyway. But calling something a historical novel seems to put mittens on it, right? It puts manners on it. And you don't want your novels to be mannered.
The short story is an imploding universe. It has all the boil of energy inside it. A novel has shrapnel going all over the place. You can have a mistake in a novel. A short story has to be perfect.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Short stories require precision and completeness, while novels allow for more freedom and potential mistakes.
In this quote, Colum McCann emphasizes the concentrated nature of short stories compared to novels. He describes the short story as an 'imploding universe' filled with intense energy, suggesting that every word and detail is crucial to its effectiveness. In contrast, he portrays novels as having more expansive, chaotic narratives where imperfections can exist without compromising the whole. This highlights the unique challenges and artistry involved in crafting short stories, which demand a higher level of precision and intentionality.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a creative writing workshop to discuss the differences between writing short stories and novels.
More from Colum Mccann
All quotes →Goodness was more difficult than evil. Evil men knew that more than good men. That's why they became evil. That's why it stuck with them. Evil was for those who could never reach the truth. It was a mask for stupidity and lack of love. Even if people laughed at the notion of goodness, if they found it sentimental, or nostalgic, it didn't matter -- it was none of those things, he said, and it had to be fought for.
She takes another long haul, lets the smoke settle in her lungs-- she has heard somewhere that cigarettes are good for grief. One long drag and you forget how to cry. The body too busy dealing with the poison.
It was a silence that heard itself, awful and beautiful.
It struck me that distant cities are designed precisely so you can know where you came from.
And I suddenly think, as I look across the table at him, that these are the days as they will be. This is the future as we see it. The swerve and the static. The confidence and the doubt.
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The artist, like the God of the creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails.
Stories are the most important thing in the world. Without stories, we wouldn't be human beings at all.
I don't think of poetry as a 'rational' activity but as an aural one. My poems usually begin with words or phrases which appeal more because of their sound than their meaning, and the movement and phrasing of a poem are very important to me.
Beauty is all very well at first sight; but who ever looks at it when it has been in the house three days?
I hate acting when I see it. I don't want to feel it, I don't want to see it, I want to be taken away with the story - I don't want the actor's ego in front of me. That's what I try to live when I do the work.