No matter the length of story you write, you’ll come up against challenges. A 100,000 word novel isn’t going to work without a plot that requires that many words to be told. Taking a 60,000 word story and padding to the longer length doesn’t give you a successful 100,000 word novel. It gives you a padded 60,000 word novel instead. Rehashing the same issues over and over in a 100,000 word novel doesn’t give you a successful 100,000 word novel. It gives you a 100,000 repetitive words. A successful 100,000 word novel will have enough action, character development, and conflict to sustain that length. On the other hand, a 60,000 word novel presents its own challenges. There can’t be too much action to be played out, character to be developed, or conflict to be resolved else the story will feel rushed and the plot short-changed. It’s a bit of a Three Bears scenario in that all of a story’s elements have to be just right for its length. One might judge by length and think a 100,000 word book is harder to write than a shorter novel, but that’s not necessarily so.
One of the most demanding story lengths has to be that of the novella. I’m only familiar with the lengths published in the romance genre, so I’m speaking strictly to those. I’ve written one novella for a Harlequin single title anthology and two which were published by Harlequin Blaze. My most recent novella for Blaze, UNBROKEN, in the Tex Appeal anthology, came in at 21,425 words. For Kensington Brava, I’ve written two novellas of 15,000 or so words which were published in “six-pack” anthologies. I’ve also written four standalone novellas at approximately 35,000 words each. Most novellas are published in anthologies, and in romance, most anthologies consist of three novellas, though they can have more.
For their RITA contest, RWA defines a novella as follows:
In this category, a love story is the main focus, and the ending is emotionally satisfying and optimistic. Typically, the word count is 20,000 – 40,000 words.
Though everyone’s experience with writing novellas or short stories will be different, here are a few tips on how to effectively write in the shorter format. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that most of these tips are about limits. Having a limited word count automatically limits what can be done with the available words and in romance, those words need to be about the love story readers want. Whatever external plot point has brought your couple together will have to take a back seat to the development of their relationship because the one thing not negotiable is the genre requirements.
1 ) – Tell one character’s story. In longer romance novels, the hero and heroine both will have goals they wish to accomplish and conflict that keeps them from doing so. In a novella, keeping the focus on one goal, one conflict will shave off a lot of words. Making the story about one character allows you to dig deeper into who he is, what he wants, what drives him, and what he’ll do to get it. Splitting your 30,000 words between two characters allows less room for each. Instead of worrying about shortchanging one or the other, you can focus on the one who has something at stake.
2 ) – Avoid writing about strangers. It’s so much easier to write a short piece if your characters don’t have to do the Getting To Know You dance. If possible, give your characters a shared history. They don’t have to have known each other well, but having some sort of common ground makes for a much easier launch pad. In romance, friends to lovers is a perennial favorite and makes for great novella fodder. My novella in the Mother, Please! anthology was such a story.
3 ) – Stick to one plot. In the shorter length work, there is really no room to adequately develop a subplot, and this is coming from someone who has written subplots in almost all of her category length romances. I love, love, love subplots but for a novella, a single focus is your best bet. One plot allows for the full word count to be used to flesh out and add the necessary color every story deserves. Don’t cheat your main story because a shiny tangent has caught your eye.
4 ) – Limit secondary characters. My novella UNBROKEN is set on a ranch populated by several hands who work there for the hero, Wyatt Crowe. None of them have their own story, their own viewpoint, or do more than facilitate the main characters’ involvement. They work for the hero, but are there to supply information my heroine needs for a newspaper article. Whether in novels or novellas, secondary characters must serve more of a purpose than window dressing.
5 ) – The fewer viewpoints the better. I was going to suggest using only the hero and heroine, but in longer novellas, I can see a third viewpoint working. With a caveat. If a third is used, it would need to enhance the main plot, not add that character’s personal story to the mix. Too many viewpoints will split the focus and lessen the intensity of the scenes and the depth achieved. Readers want the story of the main couple. Use their points of view to deliver it.
Anyone have other suggestions?
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I have a lot of fun with novellas, and it’s probably my favorite experimental storyground. I’ve used it to retell and parallel novel-length stories, with a focus on developing a subplot from the novel versus the main conflict. It’s great for exploring what’s happening offstage or from another character’s POV.
Novellas can sometimes acquire an disjointed feel if they try to cover an extended timeline. I think the best way to combat that particular problem is to try writing them in first person and or use a diary/journal approach with dates to help the reader follow. Otherwise the segues are awkward or too noticeable, and the story ends up reading like a pile of Polaroids.
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The timeline thing is a great idea. I know all of mine have been very short in terms of days passing. Hard to get a romance into that, but it only makes sense for so few pages.
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I like writing novellas, although it is a challenge to write to the length. I think you covered the essentials.
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I always feel as if I’m short changing SOMETHING, though can’t necessarily put my finger on it.
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My problem isn’t overpadding a 60k story to get 100k words. It’s cutting a 200k story down to a sellable 100k length. So writing a novella is akin to the prospect of scaling Mount Everest for me! To tell a story in so few words? I can’t imagine it. Best I’ve ever managed is to retell a particular scene from another character’s POV. I sometimes do this to determine if maybe I’d be better off changing the POV, or if I want to fill in the other side of the story. Too, I have written small scenes as practice getting characters’ voices right, but they are never cohesive stories with a beginning, middle and end.
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What I have found interesting is going back to some of my earlier work and seeing just how wordy it is! So much repetition and unnecessary description, dialogue that doesn’t move the story forward, or internalization that’s way overdone. At the time, it seemed right, and I think I’ve become a much leaner writer, so all the superfluous words really get to me now.
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I like writing novellas. I have one coming in December that takes place over a month, and I didn’t run across any issues having the extended time line. Because the backdrop of the novella is TV and sweeps month, I needed to extend over the month to really make the story work. But the H/h already worked together before story opens, so I didn’t have the Getting to Know You to contend with. I totally love this story.
In every novella I’ve sold so far, I have the H/h somehow already being familiar with each other, being in some kind of rel’ship or a former rels’hip. It helps because you often have a built-in conflict in place. I’m now writing my first short story, and I went the same route, having the rel’ship already in place. This is for erotic romance/erotica. I’ve written a short story of 5K for my non-ER writing name, the H/h had never met before story opening (although they’d heard of each other, as h was friends with H’s twin sister), and the story worked. But then the focus was getting them to admit they had an attraction to each other by the end, that they would try dating. No love scenes. For the love scenes to work (for the most part) for me, having an H/h who already know each other works best.
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The shortest piece I’ve written was an online read for eHarlequin. I think it was only around 5K and the couple were acquainted, had built in conflict, but were still both ready to take the plunge. It was great fun.
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These are timely tips, Alison. I’m in the middle of revising a novella (although it’s feeling like an expansion), but one of the things I’ve done is #2. It’s much easier to write a short stories about peeps who already have some sort of history.
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I totally agree, though I’ve written both ways. I think there’s just a whole different feel when there’s a familiarity there.
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I just gave a talk yesterday about length and moving between short stories and novel lengths! I made the students find ways of pulling shorter stories out of Lord of the Rings…
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Oh, what a cool assignment!