Fringe Fiction Unlimited discussion

I've got several complete short stories written in 3rd person past tense that I want to integrate into a larger novel. I could make one of the characters in the short story be in the larger novel, telling it as if it were a flashback. But, when I'm showing multiple points of view in the short stories, it would seem odd...wouldn't it?

Does anyone know of an example where an author has done this? Especially I'd like to hear of examples where it really worked for you and didn't seem jarring or odd for the story to be integrated this way.

My husband said Dan Simmons' "Hyperion" does this but the first time he encountered it seemed like the author had written a separate short story and shoehorned it into the book (which is what I'm trying to avoid it looking like) but after a while he got used to it and it didn't bother him.

Thanks!

Yes, if one of the novels is a flashback in someone's mind, it couldn't really be in multiple points of view. It would need to be in his/her point of view throughout.

I would strongly recommend re-editing the short story - maybe not as far as removing the multiple points of view - but certainly to get a more even tone with the novel that will be surrounding it.

I'm scratching my head because I know that I know examples where writers have done this sort of thing, but I forget them for the moment. I would say that veteran Doctor Who writer Terrance Dicks wrote Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans as an unofficial Doctor Who spin-off video in the mid-1990s. He later expanded this slight tale into a full Doctor Who novel, with the events of the original film taking up about 40 pages, somewhere in the middle.

The result, Shakedown, is... not a classic, by any reasonable standards. But I'm sure it can be done!

I guess I thought writers did this all the time, although I can't think of specific examples right now. I think I've heard of writers who would test their short stories in magazines and judge the feedback before expanding them into full length novels. I wish I had some examples.

there's also the way Stephen King did the story Hearts In Atlantis. kept them separate short stories. they were novellas put together to form a coherent (ish) story.
like that flashback you mentioned, can be one story placed after or before or something, but it can be its own story. if that makes sense?

Louise Erdrich uses the technique that Michael mentioned in most of her novels. Usually she titles each new chapter of gives another indication that the speaker has changed. But all of the different characters' stories are connected through some common thread (hers are Native American stories with character linked through complex family trees).

I think it's doable, but I would skip the fuss of flashbacks and whatnot, find what ties your stories together and weave that in. Like a quilt :)

Do you want to include these previously written short stories because they were really popular? Could you not just write a book about the same characters? I'm just not seeing how including these short stories improves the book, and that should be your ultimate goal. Why not just give away the stories as publicity for the book instead?

Integrating short stories into a larger story has always sounded like a fascinatingly difficult idea to me.

I once had this concept swimming around in my mind about a man finding a book full of small tales. As he reads them he starts noticing fragments of the stories start happening in his own life. At first its positive, but obviously it takes a darker turn. Even so he just can't stop himself from reading and inevitably inflict horrors upon himself.

That's sort of what I was going for with this whole story-Inception concept. I think if it's done well, then it really could work. Funny that you mention Hyperion by Simmons. I bought it a while back and haven't gotten around to it. You've raised my interest though and I think I should give it a go.

Have you ever read William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" where he did the multiple points of view quite successfully. He even went so far as to name each chapter after each of the characters. So it can be done.

I think I finally figured out what to do...simply have a supplementary volume of short stories that can be read before or after the main novel. I got the idea after my writer friend Franetta McMillian released a volume of stories called "What We Saw In The Fire." Seems obvious to me now.

Thanks all!

A.B. wrote: "I think I finally figured out what to do...simply have a supplementary volume of short stories that can be read before or after the main novel..."

that is a good idea. you can sell the supplement separately. you already did the work, so why not get paid for it?

Just have a collection of the stories. No need to call it a supplement.

Technical term is "a fix-up".

I've heard of people putting together a short stories all of different nature and short stories all within the same topic. Also this is something authors do when creating an omnibus as they already have the short stories out individually and put them all together for one book but all the stories in one.

As for it being in 3rd person I've seen it done and it can work just as it can in 1st person.