Queering the Short Story Cycle for Young Adult Fiction
Queer Young Adult (YA) fiction is continuing to grow alongside the budding diversity of the wider spectrum of gender and sexualities in literature, and intersecting factors therein, but for the most part queer YA realism novels follow normative novel structures that may privilege a singular point o...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elen Caldecott & Lucy Cuthew
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Leaf Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://ojs.library.lancs.ac.uk/lj/article/view/123 |
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| _version_ | 1849426568136359936 |
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| author | Chloe Cannell |
| author_facet | Chloe Cannell |
| author_sort | Chloe Cannell |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Queer Young Adult (YA) fiction is continuing to grow alongside the budding diversity of the wider spectrum of gender and sexualities in literature, and intersecting factors therein, but for the most part queer YA realism novels follow normative novel structures that may privilege a singular point of view. Writers for adults seeking ways to represent a diverse range of identities across characters and storylines have adopted the short story cycle. Maxine Hong Kingston, Louise Erdrich and many more short story cycle authors have used the form to explore identity and community, which are themes relevant to writing young LGBTQIA+ characters. Yet this form has been underutilised in YA fiction to tell queer stories. This article considers the potential of the short story cycle for writers telling queer stories to young people. I identify multiple perspectives, connected structure and fragmentation characteristic of the form to make it suitable for telling LGBTQIA+ stories, particularly for characters at the intersection of multiple identities. By reviewing notable examples and scholarship on cycles, I considered how key features were implemented in my own creative practice. My YA short story cycle features multiple intersectional LGBTQIA+ characters and explores themes of identity and community.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c2cb3cff6664465d96d3fe66cea14861 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2753-6920 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Elen Caldecott & Lucy Cuthew |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Leaf Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-c2cb3cff6664465d96d3fe66cea148612025-08-20T03:29:19ZengElen Caldecott & Lucy CuthewLeaf Journal2753-69202025-07-013110.58091/mvwh-ed17Queering the Short Story Cycle for Young Adult FictionChloe Cannell Queer Young Adult (YA) fiction is continuing to grow alongside the budding diversity of the wider spectrum of gender and sexualities in literature, and intersecting factors therein, but for the most part queer YA realism novels follow normative novel structures that may privilege a singular point of view. Writers for adults seeking ways to represent a diverse range of identities across characters and storylines have adopted the short story cycle. Maxine Hong Kingston, Louise Erdrich and many more short story cycle authors have used the form to explore identity and community, which are themes relevant to writing young LGBTQIA+ characters. Yet this form has been underutilised in YA fiction to tell queer stories. This article considers the potential of the short story cycle for writers telling queer stories to young people. I identify multiple perspectives, connected structure and fragmentation characteristic of the form to make it suitable for telling LGBTQIA+ stories, particularly for characters at the intersection of multiple identities. By reviewing notable examples and scholarship on cycles, I considered how key features were implemented in my own creative practice. My YA short story cycle features multiple intersectional LGBTQIA+ characters and explores themes of identity and community. https://ojs.library.lancs.ac.uk/lj/article/view/123creative writing for young peopleshort story cyclequeer writingqueer young adult literatureLGBTQIA+ representation |
| spellingShingle | Chloe Cannell Queering the Short Story Cycle for Young Adult Fiction Leaf Journal creative writing for young people short story cycle queer writing queer young adult literature LGBTQIA+ representation |
| title | Queering the Short Story Cycle for Young Adult Fiction |
| title_full | Queering the Short Story Cycle for Young Adult Fiction |
| title_fullStr | Queering the Short Story Cycle for Young Adult Fiction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Queering the Short Story Cycle for Young Adult Fiction |
| title_short | Queering the Short Story Cycle for Young Adult Fiction |
| title_sort | queering the short story cycle for young adult fiction |
| topic | creative writing for young people short story cycle queer writing queer young adult literature LGBTQIA+ representation |
| url | https://ojs.library.lancs.ac.uk/lj/article/view/123 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT chloecannell queeringtheshortstorycycleforyoungadultfiction |