I had an interesting story idea yesterday, and with a lack of anything else to talk about today, I thought I'd tell you about it.
Imagine this: a short story collection with, I don't know, ten or so stories. All are set in a shared universe, each is from the point of view of a different character. There is some underlying current of a connecting thread, and the whole mystery or secret truth or whatever is only clear after reading all the stories.
I don't have all the logistics worked out. It was just a random thought I had. But how much fun would that be? The challenge would be, I think, in making each individual story feel like a complete work, while still having little tendrils that connect to the other stories. It wouldn't be as simple as having the same event from different angles, because that would get boring real quick. Rather, they'd be about different events that turn out to be related.
But would it be clear from the get go that they're in a shared universe? Would they share any characters? Would, for instance, three different stories have a guy names Steve who turns out to be the same Steve? I don't know. Maybe.
Ideally, I'd like them to be able to be read in any order. I'm not sure why that matters, if they're only ever presented together in a collection. I just don't want the last story in the book to be the lynchpin that holds it all together. I don't want it to be obvious, or easy. I want someone to read the collection, think about it in the back of their mind, and a day and a half later, suddenly realized it was all connected.
Pretty lofty goals, eh?
But like I said, it was just an idea I had. I don't know what the actual story would be. But imagine the outlining for that! It would be like a web, with lines connecting characters and places. What if one character moved through each story, perhaps unseen, like a literary ninja.
So what do you think? Does that sound like something you'd read? I might try it out, somewhere down the road.
Until then, I'll see you Saturday.
Oh my gosh! I've thought of something similar. Only you made it better. I didn't have mine in short stories, rather chapters in one book. I like yours better. I was thinking of a 6 degrees of separation type thing. I had a drawing all worked out where one character from each chapter would appear in another. The end tied everything together. The plot was a sort of first-wives club where women come together and be strong. I haven't abandoned it, but I haven't revisited it in a long time.
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