There's an excellent profile of Edward Hoch at http://www.crimetime.co.uk/make_page.php?id=600 in which it's noted that Hoch has produced an average of 18 short stories each year since he sold his first story in 1955 and that he was working on his 909th story at the time the profile was written.
Hoch is one of the most prolific short story writers producing new material on a regular basis, but reading the profile started me thinking: Who are the most prolific short story writers working today? Do they write genre fiction, as Hoch does, or do they write literary fiction, as Joyce Carol Oates mostly does? Are they well-established names, or are they the often nameless scribes who turn out short stories for confession magazines? Should equal weight be given to writers who turn out flash fiction for non-paying, publish-almost-anything Web sites as is given to writers who are published in respected literary journals or "professional" genre magazines?
In short, how does one identify a prolific short story writer?
2 comments:
My personal criteria would be the number of stories a writer gets paid for.
I agree with you Graham, but I suspect my agreement comes from a genre writer's perspective.
After all, there are many non-paying, yet well-respected literary journals in which publication can benefit a writer's career.
Post a Comment