1st entry

1. What, according to Sam Leith, is the attraction of the very short creative writing texts, and to what extent does he appear to accept them as a serious art form?
Sam Leith draws attention to various aspects of short creative writing texts which make them appealing. He firstly brings attention to the popularity of short stories, by pointing out that 'smithmag.net' received 11 000 responses for a competition, suggesting that short stories must undoubtedly have some significant appeal. Leith then explains why this appeal exists by stating 'writing to a formal brief' is 'always fun', highlighting that such stories are an entertaining writing exercise for readers and writers alike. Furthermore, Leith goes on to read into Hemingway's 'For Sale...' which has arguably inspired so many short-stories, by conjuring up various back-stories for it, suggesting the 'baby shoes' could be 'For Sale' as family could have 'lost the baby in pregnancy or childbirth', more grotesquely it could have been born 'without lower limbs' or the story could just reflect disposing of 'an unwanted Christmas present'. Such creation of inventive back-stories emphasises Leith's overall point, that stories being so short and simple are effective, because they give the reader room to build on the story using their imagination and also provide cheap comedy. Leith ultimately takes short-stories as a rather serious art-form because they allow for the reader to creatively expand on a story,  this is emphasised as he straightforwardly ends the article with 'Haiku isn't for kids'.

2. Describe what you think are the characteristics/ requirements of the mini-saga as a literary form, and the criteria you would use in deciding on a 'winning' entry. Illustrate your answer with reference to a mini-saga/mini-sagas that you particularly like.
Various attributes are required for a mini-saga to be classified as a 'winning' entry. The best mini-sagas undoubtedly have to have strong punch lines and must be straight-forward and to-the-point, as is highlighted by the humorous '1955...1997' by Pauline Cartledge.  This mini-saga provides an example of what qualifies as a ‘winning entry’ because it presents irony, comedy and an overriding moral, i.e. what goes around comes around or perhaps ‘do unto others as you would have them do’ with the simple line 'Nonesense! Chin up.'. Furthermore it has an easy-to-follow and symmetrical structure, which adds to its appeal.  Similarly ‘A Moment In Venice’ provides similar humour and irony though slightly darker humour with a warning of being careful around strangers, thus it also counts as good reading material however lacks in structure, as do ‘The Inner Man’ and ‘The Pursuit of Youth’.