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I picked up a couple of New Yorker magazines a few weeks ago. Many aspiring writers believe that if you are pubished in the New Yorker, you have made it. That may have been true when writers like John Updike and John Cheever graced their pages, but is it still true today?

I won’t tell you which short fiction I read because I wouldn’t want to bash anyone who did happen to be published in this prestigious magazine, however, I will make a few comments about the type of writing that appears to be acceptable today.

I read two different pieces. The first one was nicely framed around a single incident. The incident, in retrospect, was a pivotal point in the lives of several people. I enjoyed that part of the story which hung together rather well and anticipated how the author would end the story. I was surprised when it was wrapped up quite poorly. After the incident was over, the characters went their separate ways and the author simply told the reader in a few short sentences what happened to each of the characters in the years that followed the incident. Whatever happened to “show, don’t tell?” As a writer, I would never presume to simply summarize events to the reader unless it was to set the tone or for background purposes. The writer’s task is to lay out events, draw each character clearly with words, give us a peek inside the heart and mind of each main character. It seemed to me that the author ran out of steam and dashed off a few sentences just to get it finished. Not good fiction.

The second piece I read was quite intriguiging. It was the story of how three people’s lives become intertwined for a short time. A terrible incident/misunderstanding occurs in which a crime is committed. They cover up the crime and go their separate ways. When reading the story, the author creates a lot of mystery around the interaction of these three people without revealing too much about any of them. As a reader, I don’t know how they think, what motivates them to do what they do or how they got together in the first place. One great scene describing the events that lead up to the crime and the crime itself are very well written, but then, the story just kind of drops off the map. The three people end their arrangement and go their separate ways. Way too much unsaid. Not enough about the characters at all. It left me thinking, “What was the point?”

To say the least, I was disappointed with both of these pieces. Short stories are very difficult to write because you can’t include as many details as you can in a novel, but there are still some elements you just can’t leave out or it doesn’t work. So, the question begs, where has all the good writing gone? Let me know if you find it.