Novellas: A Small but Mighty Medium for Your Story

More than an Anecdote

29 Sept

Written By Josh

What is a Medium?

Click HERE to read more about story mediums.

What is a Novella?

It’s a story. A short story. Not a short, short story. But also, not a long short story. Understand?

A novella is one of the many, many prosaic methods of telling a story. They’re often shorter than your average novel, coming at around or under 50,000 words. They span genres, topics, themes, and styles the same as any prosaic work. If you want to know if you’re writing a short story or a novella, a novella often can’t be read in a single sitting (unless you’re a bookaholic mad person).

Given their length, novellas tend to tell one story, from a single perspective, with a complete and satisfying conclusion. Structure seems to be paramount among the considerations when writing a novella.

Well, structure and theme, but theme is true of all mediums.

They also focus almost exclusively on one central conceit or conflict. Without the space to introduce sub-plots or an ensemble of characters (with notable exceptions), novellas are often a mode for writers to walk the line between fiction and thesis.

Examples of Novellas

Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
The Emperor’s Soul – Brandon Sanderson
The Mist – Stephen King
The Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka

Benefits of Writing a Novella

Experimentation:
One of the greatest bonuses of writing a novella is the ability to hone your voice. You can get into and out of a story quickly, and spend the rest of your time focusing on what you’re saying, why you’re saying it, and start to truly understand who you are as a writer and artist. Do you like science fiction? Do you write about romance? Are your stories anchored in class dynamics? Find out!
Edit time:
Novellas are short, which means finished novellas require less time to edit. Which brings me on to
Quick to Release:
For newer writers, the hardest thing is proving your ability without experience. With novellas, and some focus, you could release two or three novellas in a year, proving your acumen for writing, and maybe setting up your major franchise in a palatable way!
Lesson in Economic Writing:
On the flip side of the above point, novellas are a great way to hone your writing craft by forcing you to ditch the ‘fluff’. If you’ve only got 50,000 words, you’d better make the most of them. Novellas will teach you craft in a productive way that results in both an education and a marketable piece of work. Great for if you want to develop that into writing full-length work later.
Re-readability:
The above list of examples are known in every English classroom in the English-speaking world. Why? Because novellas are infinitely re-readable. Done right, your novella will live longer than any movie ever made.

Drawbacks of Writing Novellas

Narrative Scale:
By being focused, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to tell a story that encompasses the whole culture of a nation, for example. So, if that’s the story you’re looking to tell, you want to look for a grander medium.
Audience Reach:
Name three iconic novellas from the 21st Century. Not ones you love, ones that are iconic. That have the reach of a Colleen Hoover or the discourse of the MCU. Novella readers love novellas, but it is not a popular medium in the traditionally published world. Maybe you could change that!
Singular Voice:
Similarly to the first point on this list, if you’re telling an ensemble story, you may want to look elsewhere. Novellas need to be tight, that goes for scale of story, and number of characters. So be mindful that going too big could overwhelm your audience.
Competition in Indie Spaces:
Novellas do very well in the indie publishing world, but that’s mostly because indie book fans have a select few authors they love. If you’re not a Joanna Penn, you may struggle to compete with established novella-writing indies.