posted
I bought "Maps in a Mirror" about a year ago and was really moved by the Lost Boys short storie where Mr. Card writes as if his own son died. Then I picked up a copy of Lost Boys the book, while still being a very good book I found it not nearly as compelling as the short story version. Anyone else's thoughts on short stories sometimes being better than books?
Posts: 832 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
If I had to sum up what i'm about to say it would be with the phrase :
"It's all in the Oreo's!"
No not as in the snak food - it's an analogy . In a book a writer has to set the scene completely in terms of characters , locations , props in other words _everything_ . You want a chair in that corner mr author . Well to stop the reader getting confused you have to describe the chair , what it's doing in the story and other such details . When you're writing a book you can often get bogged down in the details .
With short story though as a direct contrast the author doesn't have to do any of this . They can go for the centre of the Oreo first without having to deal with the other possible parts of the story . They can afford to go "well there was this chair in the corner" and introduce characters and story elements without too much development going on .
As for why OSC's development of the story being better in short story form than the book - maybe he's just simply a better author and was able to get to a better development of the story quickly without confusing the reader
Posts: 3 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
Didn't Analog publish the EG short story in 1977? I'm pretty sure the novel came out in '85. But what do I know, that was before I was born. They could have re-published it in the same mag to commemorate the novel coming out or something.
Posts: 93 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
I also read the short story version in Maps in a Mirror first -- and it so disturbed and bothered me (as a parent, I guess) that I could never force myself to read the whole "Lost Boys" book -- even though I could tell from the beginning (which I did read) that it had a much different tone than the short story.
posted
I'm not a fan of the middle of the Oreo. I think the whole thing works together as a package. I checked out Maps in a Mirror this past week and really enjoyed finally reading 100 deaths. Even though the title is somewhat exaggerated.
Posts: 2010 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I thought the thinking it could be real is what made it so powerfull and in the book version you lost that. Even if it was disturbing to someone as a parent it touched you in a way that the longer book version wouldn't because the longer version never tries to pass it off as a true story. The reason for this is explained in maps in a mirror but it still makes the short storie more powerfull.
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posted
Mmmm, no. The book is more powerful to me because I care more about the characters after 3 hours than I possibly can in 10 minutes.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Good point but since we both stick to our decisions on wich we like better we can agree to disagree. Posts: 832 | Registered: Jan 2005
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They could have re-published it in the same mag to commemorate the novel coming out or something.
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