Lesson 1: What is a Novella Exactly? (2024)

Lesson 1

Hi! This is Margaret, your faithful instructor. I'll be posting onTuesdays and Fridays.

Okay so a little bit about me.

I've been writing for fifteen years. I started for years in fanfiction, mostly Buffy but some Smallville too, and then about five years ago, I got into ghostwriting mostly novellas. I quit ghosting after four years to focus on my thesis this year, but when I was actively being a ghostwriter for various clients, I wrote about sixty novellas + 10 novels in the space of four years. I had one consistent/main client for whom I wrote 3930,000 wordnovellas, which meant I averaged at least one a month during that time period. In some ways, I definitely do not recommend that because eventually you can burn out, even if you're just trying to set up a fast publishing model of a novella or even a novel a month for your independent publishing schedule (if you're an independent author). That said, having to do so many novellas so quickly and usually ones written to other people's specifications and prompts, I learned a lot about structure and outlining and pre-planning. I have found that for me, at least, the only way to write fast is to pre-plan. If you're apantser, this class is going to be outline and planning heavy. However, even if outlines aren't your usual style, I do hope that some of what I am teaching can be applied for anypantserorplantser(a mix of plotter andpantser) out there too.

So next question. What exactly is a novella?

Sometimes when I teach this class, some people can feel frustrated with defining a novella to start. I feel that's actually really important. We have all skill levels of writers here, and some of us might not know the actual word count parameters for a novella yet. However, I think it's also good for all of us to keep in mind how few words, relative to a full novel, that we're actually working with.

According to RWA and RITA guidelines, novellas in romance are between 20,000 and 40,000 words. Now those are the guidelines for RITA award consideration. If your piece ran maybe a little short at 18,000 or a little long at about 42,000, then I’d still call it a novella. If you write much shorter than that (like around 10-15k), you’re probably writing a short story. If you write longer, hitting around 45-50k, you’re actually hitting the territory of a short novel. Actually, if you do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November, you’ll know the rules encourage at least 50,000 words to complete a novel because its founder based that estimate on his copy of A Brave New World.

 The biggest thing I think we need to keep in mind with novellas is that they’re very tight and focused. In novels, especially depending on the subgenre (like high fantasy or historical), you can have large and sprawling casts, tons of time to do more world building and subplots, and just a lot more room to explore and play. Novels still have to be tight, of course, but the novella is every word counts or you’ll run out of space. Again, also keep in mind that novellas have to offer the full, complete story. It can’t end as often on a cliffhanger. I do know that some people have done serial novellas and those are slightly different animals, but in general, novellas are the same satisfying love story and working through a conflict as a longer work, one just has to do it in a shorter amount of space.

Since novellas are short and focused, they also have more circ*mscribed time frames. It’s often easier to write a novella if you give your characters a day or two to accomplish a very specific goal or even a week. For example, maybe your characters are in a forced proximity situation where it's a snowed in remote cabin for a week/until rescue arrives. Maybe, instead, it's a romantic suspense and your hero and heroine (or heroine/heroine or hero/hero or poly arrangement) are two thieves who have to work together in several days to steal a museum piece during a gala so the event is a circ*mscribed set of time too. There's also the idea of having a more locked in place. For example, maybe you've got two strangers on a train trip across the United States who bond during their7-10 daytrip. I think a key to successful novellas starts with making sure you have a tight cast of maybethe two leads (or three if it's amenageor poly book) and maybe a friend for each or a mentor figure and if you have an antagonist, the antagonist. So maybe a cast of 6 to possibly 7 characters at most but still keeping in mind that the main interactions will be situated between your romantic leads. You'll be able to write novellas faster and the reward can be myriad---from holiday stories, to side stories with secondary characters in your worlds, to just faster production. You just have to keep in mind that the trade-off is that the novellas won't have the scope for big character casts or subplots like you'd see in a full length, especially if you come from more sprawling subgenres like science fiction or fantasy romance and, of course,historicals.

There's one other thing about writing in a circ*mscribed scenario for a novella. By all means, you can have two strangers meet and fall in love in a week. It seems to be a Hallmark Christmas Movie staple. However, sometimes it can be easier if you let the back story do the work. I think sometimes novellas are easier to write if your leads are in a second chance romance scenario. Maybe this time at the high schoolten yearreunion, your leads are reconnecting this one weekend after breaking up after high school graduation. Never underestimate the power of a second-chance romance to bring depth to a story where you have between 20-40,000 words to build the world and the depth of the relationship.
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Homework

1) What are you thinking of outlining/planning in this course?

2) What subgenre is it and what's the basic plot (even in a sentence) that you are thinking of using?

3) How can you make this a circ*mscribed work with a tight focus? How are you going to keep a tight cast/time frame/set of circ*mstances? 

Homework

1) What are you thinking of outlining/planning in this course?

I'm actually approaching the end of a current novella. It's a Regency-set romance, and was intended to be a regular novel, but I got this bug in my brain to take part in a Christmas anthology, and I'm struggling to compress it to 30,000 words. As you can imagine from the current date, I'm also struggling to finish it in time to take part in this anthology, and it has to be turned in before the course is over.

2) What subgenre is it and what's the basic plot (even in a sentence) that you are thinking of using?

Plot is that financial concerns keep two lovers apart, and how they fix things so their romance can work out after all.

3) How can you make this a circ*mscribed work with a tight focus? How are you going to keep a tight cast/time frame/set of circ*mstances? 

That's one of the problems because the heroine is the oldest of five daughters, and there are also other assorted characters in the story. (It was originally intended to be a novel, and also the first of a series--I have stories in mind for each of the sisters.) It also doesn't have a tight time focus because one doesn't fix lifestyle and financial matters overnight (without winning the lottery, which didn't exist in those days!) But while I was coming up with the answers here, I thought I could skip over some of the middle because it's going to play into the story of the second sister much more than it does in the oldest sister's. I'm going to take a look at that, and if I conclude it will work--that will be one benefit I've received from taking this class almost before I begin!

I have an independently published novella (c. 20,000 words, or 23,000 counting blurb & dedication) and a long short story. Word count for the story is 13,410 plus blurb, extensive author notes & excerpts make the file come to 16, 267) so really long enough to be a novella, but it's part of a four-part short story series set during World War 2. I really like writing at this length, so I hope taking this class will inspire more of these stories! And have also independently published the first short story in the WW2 series and repubbed two Regency romances.

Looking forward to more of the class!

Judith

Lesson #1

1) What are you thinking of outlining/ planning in this course?
I am planning on outlining two projects.

2) What subgenre is it an what's the basic plot (even in a sentence) that you are thinking of using?
The subgenre is short contemporary/ interracial romance.
a) Interfering matchmaking mommas work to help an inconveniently marriage of convenience couple find true love.

b) His personal assistant is the only one who thinks the beastly boss is a sweetheart in disguise.

3) How can you make this a circ*mscribed work with a tight focus? How are you going to keep a tight cast/ time frame/ set circ*mstances?
a) This story takes place during a three month period.
b) This project takes place over a one year period but there is no subplot. The main focus is on the couple.

First thing in the morning. I've been struggling with a bad chest cold all day, I apologize

Hello Judith!

I apologize again for being a bit behind this week. I've been under the weather with a bad chest cold, but to your questions/homework:

1) That does sound complex. I tend to write paranormal and contemporary, but I have usually heard that as a subgenre, historicals run longer, like 100-120k so I can imagine that compressing that down to a novella of about 1/3-1/4 the length would be very difficult. Usually, novellas tend to be structured around a handful of characters, especially the two romantic leads, as opposed to the more wide berth of cast or sometimes family saga set up of a full novel, especially a historical one.

2) Can you be a bit more specific about the plot? What are the stakes? What is the opposing force? Is there an antagonist in the form of a person or something in general bad happening to the leads if there's a financial collapse/issue they can't fix?

3) I think that's the big part. You might have to ellide over several months to fix the financial snarls but since this has now been rethought of as a novella, focus on the primary sister who's the star of this work and her romantic life. The subplot with the secondary sister doesn't really/won't probably have enough space in a shorter novella. Most novellas tend to have one focus only and no subplots since that's where the length in novels comes from.

Hi Lynn,

1) That's ambitious! Usually this is a lot about intense focus on one novella for the workshop but if you want to do it for two at once, then that sounds admirable and intense :)

2) a - so for book/novella 1 is it the focus on the mommas themselves being people who interfere in their kids' lives or is it more about the two LIs/love interests being set up?

b - so this is a sort of beauty and the beast trope contemporary wise, I can see that, but what are the stakes? What are the GMC and desires of each character outside of just the romance? What makes this beauty and the beast contemporary different?

3) Okay both do sound somewhat circ*mscribed, although I'm curious about how the matchmaker one will work out/just seeing how you balance the interfering mommas with the actual couple falling in love and how the spread of focus will work out.

Sorry for my late joining!

1) What are you thinking of outlining/planning in this course?

A young adult fantasy.

2) What subgenre is it and what's the basic plot (even in a sentence) that you are thinking of using?
I’m between two – fantasy amnesia vampire or prequel to my high fantasy with a dragon shifter romance.

3) How can you make this a circ*mscribed work with a tight focus? How are you going to keep a tight cast/time frame/set of circ*mstances? 

I have a brain block that prevents me from understanding how to condense the story down. What are the minimums you need? I saw the one week time frame, which is super helpful! But in our hero’s journey, what are the essentials?

Lynn:

I think I understand the set up a bit more and how the matchmakers work as the through line.

Second, I'm sorry for your losses. This year does sound like it's also taken an emotional toll and I totally understand how it would be hard to consistently write or write at all through these kinds of issues. I think it says so much about you and your fortitude that you're motivated and getting back in the saddle, so I definitely want to recognize that step for you already.

So for the other story, what exactly would you say are the beauty and the beast elements and which are more specifically the cinderella elements?

Hi Arwen:

That's totally fine! I am of the opinion of the more, then the merrier. We've been at it for about a week so you have time to defintely catch up with the first two lesssons (now three) since they're a lot about habit practice and we start the outlining work next.

---interesting that you're torn between two. I would think that the amnesia vampire might be easier to make a novella in that there's less backstory and worldbuilding to work around since the high fantasy is the prequel. THAT SAID, there's also a great advantage if you really hone a prequel novella as they can be great funnels and way to bring new readers into your world. I'll be interested to see which of the two you focus the most on :)

---Well I do talk a bit more about the hero's journey as we go, but I think that things to keep in mind are literally time frame, the type of goal like is it a concrete quest, and also how big is your cast going to be?

Hey Annabel.

Thank you.

He is the workhorse of the family. The stepmother and her children are spoiled and pampered. They don’t mistreat him, but worse, take everything he’s doing for granted... until he was in a serious accident. Think about how the steps felt after Cinderella left. Their lives were horribly disrupted. Can you imagine the family discussing the good old days when Cinderella was still there. Nobody roasted a chicken the way she did. Blah, blah, blah. That’s the Cinderella aspect of the story.

The accident has created problems, physical and emotional, which have him at times acting like a snarling beast. He has a neck injury that he didn’t properly rehab. He has reoccurring headaches and his work output has slowed which only increase his frustrations. Hence, he can be unpleasant.

She has all the elements of Princess Charming and knows the Beast is nothing but a softhearted sweetie that has her wanting to toss aside her strict personal ethics. Don’t cross the professional line with your boss.

Hi Lynn:

Oh I can definitely see the Cinderella and Beast aspects both with further explanation.

What are the conflicts and issues that the female LI has to work through?

The heroine falls in love with her boss. It’s a line she’s never crossed. There’s only one solution, she quits to put distance between her and the ultimate temptation of her boss. The problem is he comes after her. While he may have been reluctant to hire her, she’s made a huge difference at the office and in his personal relationship with his family. He wants her back.

Only the truth will get him to walk away.

Instead of fleeing, he agrees to a “relationship” if she comes back to work for him.

She feels guilty. Not only is she behaving in an unprofessional manner, she’s become another person taking advantage of his sweet nature.

He isn’t a fool. This has turned out much better than he expected. He only kept his distance because he wanted to keep her in his life.

First, she went and fell for her boss and now he refuses to let her go.