The Curiosities By Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, Brenna Yovanoff
YA Short Stories
The Curiosities is more than the stories. Since 2008, these authors have posted more than 250 works of short fiction to their website www.merryfates.com. Their goal was simple: create a space for experimentation and improvisation in their writing-all in public and without a backspace key. This collection includes the stories and each author's comments, critiques, and kudos in the margins. Think of it as a guided tour of the creative processes of three acclaimed authors.
I picked up this book because, yes, I was curious, it had Maggie Stiefvater's name on it-who writes some great books-and I believed it would give some great advice on writing.
The Good: Some of these stories (and not just those by Stiefvater) are quite excellent and remained with me like a delicious aftertaste. I also enjoyed the humorous, hand-crafted drawings scattered throughout the book.
The Bad: Not much about the actual writing process in this book. So that was disappointing.
The Ugly: Many of these stories don't fall into the normal genres I read, which isn't necessarily bad, but they were ugly. There weren't many happy endings. And I might have had a nightmare from one of the creepier tales...
My rating: 2 out of 5 stars, though it would probably have been higher if my expectations of this book had been different.
Have you read anything by these authors? What kind of books make you 'curious'?
