On the Value of Themes and the Concept of Grand Unification (sort of)

So I’ve been thinking… A dangerous past-time to be sure, but one I engage in frequently nevertheless. The topic of my latest thoughts: short story collections.

Lemme guess – this is not going where you thought it would, based on the title. I get that a lot. It is, in fact, kind of germane to this post. Hooray – second degree unification!

Let me explain.

I am in the process of editing and finalizing the semi-vast collection of short stories that I have amassed over the past year. I am cautiously optimistic that, with the help of the fabulous Ms. Tracy Brown, The Husband, and a few kind-hearted MTB-adjacent folk, I can get these whipped into publishable shape by year-end.

Woohoo, she said!

Short story collections can be a tough sell though – a fact I know all too well, as they are tough to sell to me, and I’ll buy/read almost anything. I hear agents/publishers are even harder lined on this than I am, and that’s saying something.

I’ve talked about the importance of titles/covers (the “shiny things” of books) before. It seems to me these things are extra-important in short story collections. Personally, I almost never intentionally pick them up – unless they’re by an author I already know I love. But if I do pick one up because I was lured in by the shiny bits, I usually drop them back on the shelf like the proverbial hot potato unless they are super-duper shiny. So I, of all people, understand the importance of the extra-special-incredibly-unbelievably-exponentially fabulous title and cover/spine image.

But there’s more to it than just that – there’s also the relevance factor.

I can come up with an awesome, eye-catching title and a psychedelic, eye-popping cover/spine, but if they aren’t in some way related to what the book is about, I will probably confuse – if not outright irritate – the browser/reader. Browser/reader people aren’t stupid (usually) – I imagine more than a few of them grasp the whole “grab the eye!” concept of shiny thing-ness, even if they haven’t read my blog post or tried to sell their own book. (teehee) I would feel slighted if I grabbed a book because the look/title hooked my interest and then those very hooks turned out to be utterly irrelevant to the subject matter, and I can’t imagine others would feel differently.

With a novel, it’s not all that difficult to deal with the relevance factor. You have a book about something. All you have to do is pick an interesting element of that something and use it to devise your title/images. It’s not easy-peasy, extra-cheesy – there’s still a lot of work involved and a lot of words/images to slog through – but it’s not rocket science either, because you know what the book is about. But with short stories, you don’t really – at least not my kind of stories. My stories are all over the map. Some are funny, some scary, some just plain odd. They don’t all hinge on the same character or setting or situation. They aren’t even all the same genre. So how on earth does one find a way to encapsulate that randomness in a title/image – without resorting to things like “randomness” as said title/image?

I think I’ve come up with a solution, and it ties into this idea of a thematic unifying concept. (Finally – coming full-circle to the title. See how tricky that can be sometimes?!) I know that sounds vague – the thematic unifying concept itself is, so that’s not actually as odd as it may seem. Plus, I’m not ready to divulge it yet because I’m still pondering its merits and want to run it by my brain-trust before committing even in my own head, so it’s not a full-fledged plan just yet. But I think I like it, and rather think others may find it interesting too. Sorry if that’s cryptic and/or annoying, but it’s too early to talk, even for me.

I’d love thoughts from the peanut gallery on this idea of organizing, arranging, and describing short story collections. Do you like them to be obviously themed? Do you enjoy tidbits of random, with stories varying in length/breadth/character/setting/situation/etc., or does that irk you? Do you like having an “a-ha!” moment when reading shorts, where you all of a sudden get why the author lumped these particular stories together or why the collection was titled/imaged as it was? Is the idea of unification/theme overrated in a post-sound-bite, flash-fiction world? Am I over-thinking all of this?

While I ponce upon these questions – and try to round out my idea a little more – I will keep plodding along with the edits. Who knows, maybe something even better and/or more obvious (or less – if I decide to go that route) will come to me at the oddest moment. Regardless, I’m still hoping for a year-end collection – even if it has to be titled “Untitled”. In a brown paper bag cover. With hand-printed lettering. 😉