recommend short story collections that would be good short film fodder

June 17, 2009 2:57 PM

recommend short story collections that would be good short film fodder

I'm a film student currently experiencing a bit of writer's block. I'm considering adapting a short story for my next short film, but I haven't found anything suitable in my preliminary bookstore/library searches. Part of the problem is I really don't know much about contemporary short fiction, so I'm lost about where to start looking.

More specifics on the type of stories I'm looking for:

1) It goes without saying that the story must have visual potential. That doesn't mean the writer's descriptions need be vivid. If the seed of a good visual idea is there, then I can flesh out the visuals myself.

2) The story should have a definite mood. I'm attracted to the strange, disturbing, dark, quietly moody and (sometimes) allegorical. A few film examples: "Woman in the Dunes," "The Vanishing" (Dutch version), "The Conversation," "Repulsion." I appreciate subtlety. I also enjoy character studies, as long as there is some overall mood or visual element.

3) It needs to have a discernible plot. A lot of contemporary short fiction isn't easily translatable to film because of the narrative looseness. Let me be clear: I can't stand typical Hollywood narrative. I'm looking for something more subtle and true to life, but there's got to be some sort of structure there.

4) While there can be humorous elements, I'm not looking for something incredibly tongue-in-cheek, self referential or po-mo. Content over style.

5) Probably looking to avoid anything that has a gimmicky O'Henry like twist.

Any good authors spring to mind?

posted by timsneezed to media & arts (18 comments total)

Anything I've ever written, just kidding.

How about Joan Silber's "Other People's Lives," or Susan Minot's "Monkeys," or, I have to go look at my books . . .
posted by emhutchinson at 3:06 PM on June 17

Julie Orringer's How to Breathe Underwater has some great characters (mostly females) and interesting relationships. The plot lines are definitely structured, though, in the first story for instance, it ends abruptly after the climax and leaves the reader hanging. Most of them have a very natural story arch.

Character ages and locations vary wildly, too, though there's a lot of coming-of-age themes. I found them all really engaging and definitely visual, the title story especially.
posted by juliplease at 3:10 PM on June 17

Here's an idea: go looking through old Best American Short Stories collections. Libraries, bookstores, wherever (your house maybe). Go straight to the back, where the contributors offer short to long versions of why the wrote what they did. Skim the editor's intros to get a sense of whether anything in there fits your idea of what it is you want to work with/around.

Just rummage around. You're sure to find something. And real books still smell better than the internet. Best of luck!
posted by emhutchinson at 3:16 PM on June 17

I would suggest you investigate short stories and other literary works that are in the public domain to avoid having to deal with the film rights issue. (I assume that as a film student, you know you can't just make a movie of any old thing you fancy.)
posted by DarlingBri at 3:43 PM on June 17

Man, everything you're describing would work well with Frederick Busch (woefully under appreciated), Paul Bowles, or John Cheever. They are simple stories told marvelously well and they all have strong emotions throughout.
posted by OrangeDrink at 4:46 PM on June 17

I've always wanted to see a film made of Richard Ford's Rock Springs. The story is interesting plot-wise, a great case for character development and a couple striking visual moments that still stick with me 10 years after reading it.
posted by rabbitsnake at 5:13 PM on June 17

Check out some of F Paul Wilson's collections.

He let an independent film maker adapt several of his short stories and another one, Pelts, was also adapted to a Masters Of Horror show.
posted by Iax at 5:17 PM on June 17

What You Pawn I Will Redeem by Sherman Alexie

The Moor by Russell Banks

Charlotte by Tony Early...I love all these stories very much.
posted by sully75 at 6:12 PM on June 17

Either of Mary Gaitskill's collections would be good for this. There's already been a movie of one of her stories -- I think it was called Secretary.
posted by escabeche at 6:23 PM on June 17

Have a look at the short story collection "Getting Into Death" by Thomas Disch, some good material there indeed.
posted by Kinbote at 6:38 PM on June 17

seconding John Cheever. any of his stories that i've read would work really well for you.
posted by gursky at 6:44 PM on June 17

Bed by Tao Lin sounds exactly like what your looking for.
posted by moonroof at 6:54 PM on June 17

Tobias Wolff, "Say Yes"

Louise Erdrich, "The Red Convertible"

Susan Glaspell, "A Jury of Her Peers"

Also check out the short stories of Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Carol Shields, Lorrie Moore, and Raymond Carver.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:45 PM on June 17

Oh, and for truly dark stuff, try the early short stories of Ian McEwan.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:54 PM on June 17

Blue World by Robert McCammon, especially if you want to make a nice little scarier-than-the-God-Warrior-Woman-at-Jesus-Camp horror film. I can only imagine how "Pin" or "Yellowjacket Summer" might turn out when put on film.
posted by mrbarrett.com at 8:15 PM on June 17

When The Women Come Out To Dance by Elmore Leonard

And yeah, those Best American Short Stories anthologies are great for this kind of thing. There's always one or two every year that would make great shorts (or features, for that matter).
posted by Bobby Bittman at 9:01 PM on June 17

Great recommendations, guys! I will check out all of those writers. Keep 'em coming.

Btw, I've skimmed through a few Best American Short Story anthologies. The problem with this approach is it often takes me about 2/3 of the way through a story before I can tell whether it has film potential. I'm a slow reader, so I'm looking for specific writer or anthology recommendations to improve my success rate and speed up the search.

Thanks again.
posted by timsneezed at 11:33 PM on June 17

Whether or not you end up using any of the stories contained therein, it's absolutely worth your while to pick up The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake.
posted by saladin at 6:15 AM on June 18