On Story Collections and Playing With Other Genres

I’ve always wanted to write books, and night after night spent reading The Bobbsey Twins with a flashlight under the covers nudged me in the direction of suspense. Dee Henderson’s O’Malley Series gave me the final push over the edge into romantic suspense, and I’ve never looked back. At least, to this point, I haven’t seriously considered writing full-length novels in any other genre (although I’ve learned to never say never to God).

When I joined The Mosaic Collection, a group of about a dozen indie authors, a few years ago, I was introduced to the joy of writing stories and novellas. The Mosaic Collection puts out an anthology twice a year—one in the spring/summer and one at Christmas—and I have a contribution in every one of the fifteen collections they have published so far.

Writing these stories has given me the unexpected opportunity to try other genres. For the most part, I avoid including suspense in these novellas. Instead, I write human and family dramas, women’s fiction, romance, dual timeline, biblical story retellings, and my personal favourite, rom-coms.

Since every one of these shorter pieces is connected to my full-length novels, these collections have also afforded me the opportunity to create prequels and/or tell the stories of minor characters in my series, which has been a lot of fun.

Now that I have so many of these pieces, I have started compiling them into my own story collection books. My first personal collection, This Little Nowhere, Nothing Town, which is connected to my Rose Tattoo trilogy, came out last year and is a finalist for a Selah Award this year. (As a side note, the other two finalists in the category are a Mosaic Collection anthology, BirdSong, and a Fab Four collaboration, I Heard the Bells. I’m thrilled to have a story in each of those books as well, meaning I have three horses in this three-horse race and am feeling extremely humbled and blessed by that fact.)

Here is the blurb for This Little Nowhere, Nothing Town:

Welcome to the little town of Elora, where everyone knows your name. And your business.

Through the stories in this collection, you will meet the charming, eccentric, fumbling, flawed, wonderful people who live here. Journey with them as they experience grief and betrayal, watch their dreams crumble into dust, become hopelessly lost (literally and figuratively), and struggle to believe they can ever be forgiven—by those they love or by God—for their past actions.

Whether their joy will be restored, their old dreams replaced with new, more joy-filled, meaningful ones, or they encounter unfathomable, life-changing grace and mercy, I leave it to you to discover.

As you do, I pray that you will experience for yourself in “This Little Nowhere, Nothing Town” something even richer and sweeter than the baked goods at the Taste of Heaven Café—hope. Hope that, whatever you are going through, whoever might have hurt you, wherever you may have wandered, it is never too late to turn around and, like the prodigals in these stories, be welcomed with open arms back home.

Read more about This Little Nowhere, Nothing Town here: https://books2read.com/u/mB0D9v

This week, my second personal story collection, one I am pretty excited about, releases. The Happiness of Bluebirds tells the stories of minor characters in my two sparrows for a penny series.

Here’s the blurb:

A single moment can change everything.

The men and women in these stories were doing just fine. Well, maybe they weren’t exactly fine, but they were muddling their way through.

Then, in an instant, an unexpected loss, a split-second choice gone wrong, a reckless decision, a raging blizzard, a heartrending betrayal, or an eye-opening weekend sends them spiralling along a path they never would have chosen for themselves.
They’d believed that God was with them. That he saw them and loved them and wanted only the best for them. Clearly, they were wrong.

Or maybe they’re about to find out that he has a plan for them that’s better than anything they could have imagined for themselves.

The Happiness of Bluebirds will take story lovers on a journey through six adventures filled with family drama, humour, faith, a little romance, and a whole lot of hope. 

Read more about The Happiness of Bluebirds here: https://books2read.com/u/b66nAM

 I hope readers find these two collections (and all the Mosaic Collection and Fab Four anthologies) as much fun to read as we have writing them.

How about you? Do you enjoy story collections? Which have you read and liked? Which genre would you love to see as part of a collection like this?

 

Meet Sara Davison…

I’m going rogue to write Sara’s biography. She lives in Canada writes mostly romantic suspense and wins a LOT of awards. If you like well written books, she’s an obvious choice. Find our the rest of her details via her website or BRRC Profile Page. 

 

 

 

 

Do you enjoy story collections? Check out Sara Davison's newest venture via the BRRC blog - Pages of My Life Share on X