When a reader picks up a book they are already gearing up for the story inside. They are soaking in knowledge before they even pull it off the shelf. The color, the height, the genre, and then when they do pull it off the shelves, that’s when the fun begins. Once that book is in hand that person is getting to know it, they may read the inside cover or flip to the last page and read that first. They will feel the weight of it in their hands, the size, and acknowledge the length before tucking it under their arm and walking away with it.
Personally, though I will read most anything, I am primarily a novel reader. I want something that takes me on a long journey, that gives me deep, insightful details about where I am and the characters that I am with. That being said, I am in complete awe when all this can be achieved as a novella.
I encourage you to take a hard look at your stories this New Year to understand, what exactly, your story may be telling you and whether or not it has more (or less) to say. As a reminder, here are some key differences between a novella and a novel. Remember, a story doesn’t always need to be 500 pages to say what needs to be said.
Novel: An extended work that typically begins at 50,000 words and continues for as long as the writer pleases. Many characters with many scenes.
Novella: A long short story. Less than 50,000 words and typically has 3 or less characters and a maximum of 8 scenes.
There have been many, many writers who have it set in their mind that they will be writing a novel only to find out that they have written everything the character (s) needs to say within 50,000 words and are trying to put extra items in to give the story more length. This is the same as adding extra ingredients to a cake recipe in the hopes the cake will be bigger. Reversely, I encourage novella writers to see what happens if you add a different ending, another twist, another turn to your work. Is their more?
At the end of the day, all readers want the same thing. They want to be changed in some small way from the person they were before they opened the book and began to read. Let us focus on that, rather than the word count, and see what happens.
Photo Credit: Nick Fewings on Unsplash
