Artful writing employs creative skill in clever, crafty or cunning ways. There is an art to arranging words in a paragraph and paragraphs on a page so they appeal at once to the eye and the ear.

“Several Garlic Tales,” by Donald Barthelme, Object Lessons: The Paris Review presents The Art of the Short Story

Ten story snippets, like encased garlic cloves bound together with distinctive language, sketch the character of Paul as he trips around the world. Texture and flavor trump story, yet meaning emerges.

Elspeth inspected the new German army. Well, I’ll say one thing, the Germans certainly know how to “put on” and army!

Got the picture? 

• “Even Pretty Eyes Commit Crimes,” by M.J. Hyland, NarrativeMagazine.com

Dad shows up on his son’s doorstep with a pineapple. They both know that the fruit, advice and companionship are unwanted. The art is in the picture of inter-generational communication that is difficult, painful and necessary.

• “Why Don’t You Dance,” by Raymond Carver, Object Lessons: The Paris Review presents The Art of the Short Story

Carver lays out this story in a masterful way. He provides back story in the image of a garage sale against the night sky and uses space breaks artfully to divide two generations, an ending and a beginning. The young girl’s inability to comprehend and appreciate the significance of the dance is heartbreaking.

Read this one.

• “The Possibility of Fire,” by Jessica Barksdale, Carve: Short Stories Spring 2013

Elements of disaster—illness, addiction, abuse, fire—paint a picture of reality over the expectation that everything will turn out all right. It is hope, the resilience of the human race and moments of grace that keep us going.

• “The Thief,” Ordinary Life: Stories, Elizabeth Berg

Berg turns a crime story on its ear. The winsome thief robs his victim and leaves her richer for the experience. The art is in the conversation between the two.

Signature Berg.

• “A Thousands Wrinkles, A story of Sarah,” and “The Waters of Zamzam, the story of Hagar,” Daughters of the Desert: Stories of Remarkable Women from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Traditions

Sometimes the art is in the way an anthology of stories is put together. These stories about women of faith written for young people are presented in the context of the three monotheistic traditions. The story of Hagar in the Qur’an is very different from the Biblical account, yet the essential truth is identical; God provided for two ancestral lines descending from Abraham.