Recently, at every single class visit, some new writer asks me why short stories are so depressing and I usually just fumble an answer about how stories need conflict and tend to be written in a minor key (as opposed to the novel’s span of keys). But honestly, I don’t know.

I can think of one story about happiness, Lars Gustafson’s “Greatness Strikes Where It Pleases,” and though it’s about happiness, it’s also depressing in its own exquisite way.

And there’s the pond swimming in “Gooseberries,” but this happiness is fleeting and repudiated by the rest of the story.

Didn’t mean for this to be a debate about whether joy in short fiction exists! Of course it does. Levity, play with form, voice, tone, imagery, language, speculation can mitigate the darkness. I use these tools myself. The question posed by the students is a different one.

Also, gently, tweeting at me that you never read the fiction in the New Yorker is not the badge of honor some seem to think it is. Muting this conversation! Have a glorious day!