Anthologies and Music
Why preparing a short story collection is like making an album
NOTE: The following was originally published, in slightly revised form, on Medium.
While assembling my new fantasy anthology The Dark Forest Within, it struck me that preparing a collection of short stories and novellas is like making a music album. Similar decisions are taken concerning concepts, running orders, and what to include or omit. In sharing these analogies, I hope they provide useful clarity to other fiction writers with an archive of shorter tales they might consider releasing in one volume.
My name is not enough
A brief word of advice ahead of the music comparisons: Unless one is a household name like Stephen King, it’s probably not a great idea to attempt selling an anthology with one’s name as the main attraction. Some authors who would have me at hello, but most of the time, when looking at short story collections, my focus is more on genre. Therefore, when approaching what stories to include in an anthology of my work, I concluded that mixing genres wasn’t a good idea. I needed to stick to one genre at a time.
Album concept
Having settled on a genre — in the case of The Dark Forest Within, fantasy — the question then became one of concept. Here, the music album analogy kicks in. For example, my favourite Pet Shop Boys album is Behaviour from 1990. The melancholy, downbeat mood throughout stood in stark contrast to the more upbeat pop hits for which they were famous up till that point. Behaviour had a concept, with the tragic death of lead singer Neil Tennant’s close friend echoing not only in the song “Being Boring” but casting a shadow over the entire album. The running order of the songs is also extremely important. To my mind, they got that spot-on.
Bearing that in mind, my concept for The Dark Forest Within was, firstly, a thematic and tonal companion piece to my novel Ravenseed. Secondly, it was to feature fantasy tales that involved journeys into dangerous woodlands. But in each of these journeys, as the protagonist ventures deeper and deeper into the forest, they venture deeper and deeper into themselves. Hence the title for this anthology. It then became a question of which of my fantasy stories fit this theme. Out went stories that didn’t feature literal forests. Additionally, out went stories where the tone was more satirical, or (in one case) more of a cross-genre fusion.
Another head-scratcher was in what order the stories should appear. Eventually, after trying several variations, I settled on an order that bundled the three stories primarily set in dreams, extra-dimensional spiritual planes, or parallel worlds together at the start (with the first two set at Christmas). Then I placed the three stories set in our world, during the Dark Ages, in the second half. Two of these are direct prequels to Ravenseed, so they worked well together. The other story could be read as a sequel (though there’s interpretive wiggle room to suggest it occurs one parallel universe away from ours). The best thing about this running order is that the stories gradually get darker.
What are the “singles”?
The best Pet Shop Boys albums feature a track list where any song could be a single, yet the songs are also a great collective experience. I wanted that to be true of The Dark Forest Within, so to speak. Yet because each story stands alone (and incidentally, is designed to ensure no prior knowledge of Ravenseed is necessary), they could be placed in other collections or released online in isolation. Therefore, in this case, the “singles” are those stories previously published on Substack, such as Window of the Soul.
To take this analogy a little further, On Behaviour, “How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?” sounds significantly different compared with the radically remixed single version. With Bloodmire, the closing novella in The Dark Forest Within, the original version released (on Medium) featured a slightly different ending. However, I tweaked this ending for the version released in the anthology, after changing my mind about the fate of one particular character. I’ve kept the original version up on Medium for posterity, but I now consider this new ending (the “single version” on Substack, if you like) definitive. I should add that the story’s outcome is substantially the same.
What are the “album tracks”?
As a big Pet Shop Boys fan, I delight in the songs on Behaviour that weren’t released as singles. Indeed, I often consider these album tracks superior. A good example would be the superb second track, “This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave”. With the stories that aren’t available except in The Dark Forest Within, I hope readers value them in a similar way. Indeed, Wulfric’s Quest — a 27,000-word novella — serves as essentially the centrepiece of the collection. I’m particularly proud of this tale, but also anxious to see how readers respond to it. I consider it the anthology’s biggest selling point.
What are the “B-sides”?
During the Behaviour sessions, Pet Shop Boys recorded other songs including “Miserablism” and “Bet She’s Not Your Girlfriend”. These were not included in the final track list, as they were considered too spiky or upbeat and didn’t fit the album’s overall concept. Both later appeared as single B-sides. Continuing the album-anthology analogy, in the case of The Dark Forest Within, certain stories I initially jotted down for inclusion were omitted, including one I alluded to earlier that felt more like a dystopian sci-fi-fantasy-horror hybrid. This previously unreleased novella, entitled Offline Dream, will eventually be published as a “B-side” elsewhere.
Conclusion: The “difficult third album”
The Dark Forest Within is my third self-published anthology. Significant lessons were learned this time, and whilst my main focus remains novels, I’m pleased with this 100,000-word collection. To conclude the musical analogy, I only hope it isn’t seen by readers as the “difficult third album”, but instead as an entertaining selection of fantasy tales filled with magic, mystery, monsters, adventure, romance, triumph, tragedy, and a touch of humour.
The Dark Forest Within is out now in paperback or ebook formats.