Category: Small Town Stories

Small Town Stories are concerned with the intricately woven relationships of communities. These narratives focus on generations, outsiders, class division, and a general sense of closeness. This closeness is produced by literal proximity and a lack of anonymity, creating dynamics that open up a Pandora’s box of intimate relationships, mysteries, gossip, folklore, and history. The landscape is often infused with dichotomies — expressing a sense of entrapment and detachment, feelings of safety and nostalgia, and clashing traditions, customs, or ways of life. They can be coming-of-age stories centered around how to attain and understand individual identity in an environment that doesn’t necessarily nurture change. They can be about the ties, beliefs, rivalries, nostalgic returns, and fantasies or fruitions of leaving. They are interpersonal, spatial, wholesome, and sinister.