Rebooting the Lyrical Story: Structure, Viewpoint and Aspects of Realism in Short Fiction

This project contains a collection of original short fiction due for publication by Valley Press (January 2016). In addition to the publication of the single collection, most of the stories have been previously published separately in magazines, journals and anthologies. A full publication list is provided. The commentary which accompanies the collection explores my own research into structure and viewpoint. In the commentary, I will show my development from a scriptwriter for theatre, radio and television to short fiction writer; from epical story structures to more lyrical ones. I will explore structure in short fiction from my wide reading of the various theorists, such as John Gerlach, L Michael O’Toole, Paul March-Russell, and J Berg Esenwein; practitioners such as Anton Chekov, Katherine Mansfield, Raymond Carver and Helen Simpson; and broad practice-based experience as a professional writer. I will examine my own experiments with form, viewpoint and aspects of realism in short fiction.
The contemporary literary short story favours lyrical over that of epical structure. As a result of my background in scriptwriting, my stories combine epical and lyrical elements. The lyrical story has largely been associated with realism. My collection uses the lyrical story structure in combination with non-naturalistic elements, in order to ‘reboot’ the lyrical form. In addition, choice of viewpoint and an innovative approach to its novel use, form a thematic thread throughout my work. This exegesis outlines aspects of craft and technique pertinent to my background as a writer, which will demonstrate the distinctiveness of my short story collection.