Novel-in-Stories: Why I Love the Form and Some Exceptional Examples

For the most part, I think I will always be a short story writer. While I’m working on a novel now, and have in the past, I think short stories will always be my preference. Though I’m working on a novel currently and have tooled around with novels before, my most successful projects have been short stories. Their compression allows for a little more coyness on the part of the narrative. The longer that people invest, the more they insist on answers being fed to them and definitive. But a short story can get away with posing unanswered questions and elliptical endings in a way that invites the reader to wonder without them feeling cheated. And it can make you really sit with a feeling, immerse you in it, without it becoming too much.

But there’s no denying that short stories aren’t as lucrative as novels, and there are benefits to having more space to develop your world, your characters, and your themes at times.

Benefits of Interconnected Short Stories & Novels-in-Stories

Interconnected short stories or novels-in-stories allow you to live in both worlds. They let you work in the friendly, condensed structure of short stories while giving you the space to more thoroughly explore the world or theme you’re building. Plus, they often set up a pattern that becomes a fun puzzle for you to plot and your readers to think over. Recognizing patterns in music is part of the pleasure it brings — and I think that also extends to storytelling. Granted — we don’t want it to be too easy, and sometimes, stories need to surprise us. A good novel-in-stories can give us the opportunity for setting patterns and expectations, and the chance to easily subvert them.

It might be my ADHD that makes the form so attractive. While writing The Girl Who being able to chunk the larger thematic narrative into smaller stories to act as stepping stones gave me a sense of direction and control that I don’t feel when writing most longer works.

But I don’t just love them because they’re easier to write. I also find them extremely pleasurable to read. In fact, many of my favorite books are novels-in-stories.

Great Novels-in-Stories or Story Cycles You Should Read

There are a few novels-in-stories that made a big impact on me during my early years as a writer and that I find myself returning to again and again. While I’d encountered the form before in works like The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, I wasn’t aware of the form. It wasn’t until I was in college and started studying creative writing that I had the term “novel-in-stories” introduced to me. These are some of the early examples of the linked stories

that I read, which are still my favorite to this day.

The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak

I first learned about novels-in-stories from Chris Barzak during my time at YSU, and his was one of the first novel-in-stories I read (with the form in mind), so there may be some bias here. But The Love We Share Without Knowing is such a gentle, magical, and poignantly sad story. It gives a beautiful glimpse into feelings of isolation and how we attempt to overcome them — and how we are linked to others without knowing it. It will have a special draw for those interested in Japan, where it’s set, and where Barzak lived for several years. It deftly and gently interlaces not only its connected stories but reality and magic as well.

Going Native by Stephen Wright

This novel in connected short stories is great at establishing a surprising pattern. What begins with a suburban man walking out on his family ends in a repetitive bloodbath. Going Native is dark, terrifying, and critical of contemporary society’s passive, consumeristic attitude. After you’ve identified this story cycle’s pattern, you’ll find yourself waiting with both dread and excitement for it to complete itself in each vignette.

Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson

If you love Trainspotting but want a little bit of a hopeful ending, or you’re looking to dip your toes into some chaos, you’ll love this story cycle. Jesus’ Son manages to perform a balancing act between being poetic and disorienting & disjointed and serves up some hard-hitting moments of clarity while it does.

Revenge by Yoko Ogawa

In Revenge, you’ll find eleven tales interwoven together and laced with the unsettling and strange. This book works as a perfect example of how to create stories that stand alone but also connect, and how to effectively use recurring images and themes.

Finding Connections

Sometimes, I think that no matter what when authors write, certain patterns emerge that make their works feel connected. One of my favorite things is identifying these patterns, and I think that those kinds of idiosyncrasies interest a lot of readers. Those subconscious patterns are one of the reasons I’m not really interested in — or worried — about AI writing. Often, even when short story collections aren’t officially linked, I’ll see patterns in their narratives. I didn’t plan for I’ll Tell You a Love Story to be linked — but there are definite connections between the themes and the narrators’ states of mind that run throughout.

Know of a good novel-in-stories? Contact me and let me know about it — I’m always excited to add something to my TBR list. Or if you’re looking to hear about more contemporary literature, sign up for my newsletter to get a heads up on reviews and recommendations.