Claytine Nisbett's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing-a-novella"
THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT WRITING A NOVELLA
You may choose to write a novella for various reasons. It may be because the story you are trying to tell does not require a novel length book. It could be because you are just not ready to commit to that amount of writing. You may not be ready for that step, and in my opinion, that’s okay. It may also be that your best writing is done in short stories/novella format. You deliver the story better and hence, this is your specialty. However, by no means does writing a novella require less skill than writing a novel. At times, it can be harder. Why?:
1) EVERY SINGLE WORD MUST COUNT! You don’t have the luxury of two hundred or more pages to tell your character(s) story and provide an extensive description. In approximately 60,000 words or less, you must adequately describe your character(s), especially your protagonist and other main characters, and give necessary supporting information about them so that the reader can clearly understand and/or relate to them. This eliminates confusion in your storyline. However, you must also be brief. You cannot take up pages upon pages describing a character.
-If the structure of your novel allows, my advice would be to weave the descriptions of your main characters into one of the chapters your novella. In subsequent chapters, you can briefly describe any characters introduced later on.
2) YOU MUST BE EXTRA CAREFUL TO AVOID INCONSISTENCIES. It is more likely that a reader will forget a small inconsistency mentioned in a full-length novel, if adequately spaced, than in short novella. Readers will remember that in chapter two you mentioned that Sasha had short brown hair with blond highlights, if in chapter five (which as per your timeline is only a week later) her hair is now flaming red and beyond her shoulder.
-My advice, keep notes about the physical and personality attributes of your characters so that you won’t forget. In addition, also keep notes about places and dates that you will be mentioning and/or describing in your book so that you don’t contradict yourself here either. Refer these notes regularly to make sure everything lines up. In my novella, Life As Josephine,
I used dates quite a lot and I have to admit, because I did not follow my own advice, in the editing stage I spent a good chunk of my time adjusting dates in my book because I had not previously made any notes concerning this aspect of my book.
3) YOU MUST KNOW WHEN TO STOP. It’s a novella, remember that. If you are not committed to writing a full-length novel then know when to cut a chapter off and move onto the next. Yes, some chapters require more explanation than others. In my eighty-four-page novella, chapter six is the longest chapter because a significant character was introduced and it was important that this character was adequately introduced to the reader. However, I knew when to stop and move onto the next.
-Brevity is the key throughout a novella. My advice? Notes, notes, notes. Write down the points you want to make in each chapter and make them, clearly and succinctly.
Many people may think writing a novella is easier than writing a novel, but some may argue it takes more skill because more has to be stuffed into a smaller package. I guess you can say quality is highly valued over quantity in this type of book. Though these steps can be applied to any literary work it is important that you follow these guidelines to ensure that your novella not only makes sense but receives a thumbs up from the reading community.
1) EVERY SINGLE WORD MUST COUNT! You don’t have the luxury of two hundred or more pages to tell your character(s) story and provide an extensive description. In approximately 60,000 words or less, you must adequately describe your character(s), especially your protagonist and other main characters, and give necessary supporting information about them so that the reader can clearly understand and/or relate to them. This eliminates confusion in your storyline. However, you must also be brief. You cannot take up pages upon pages describing a character.
-If the structure of your novel allows, my advice would be to weave the descriptions of your main characters into one of the chapters your novella. In subsequent chapters, you can briefly describe any characters introduced later on.
2) YOU MUST BE EXTRA CAREFUL TO AVOID INCONSISTENCIES. It is more likely that a reader will forget a small inconsistency mentioned in a full-length novel, if adequately spaced, than in short novella. Readers will remember that in chapter two you mentioned that Sasha had short brown hair with blond highlights, if in chapter five (which as per your timeline is only a week later) her hair is now flaming red and beyond her shoulder.
-My advice, keep notes about the physical and personality attributes of your characters so that you won’t forget. In addition, also keep notes about places and dates that you will be mentioning and/or describing in your book so that you don’t contradict yourself here either. Refer these notes regularly to make sure everything lines up. In my novella, Life As Josephine,
I used dates quite a lot and I have to admit, because I did not follow my own advice, in the editing stage I spent a good chunk of my time adjusting dates in my book because I had not previously made any notes concerning this aspect of my book. 3) YOU MUST KNOW WHEN TO STOP. It’s a novella, remember that. If you are not committed to writing a full-length novel then know when to cut a chapter off and move onto the next. Yes, some chapters require more explanation than others. In my eighty-four-page novella, chapter six is the longest chapter because a significant character was introduced and it was important that this character was adequately introduced to the reader. However, I knew when to stop and move onto the next.
-Brevity is the key throughout a novella. My advice? Notes, notes, notes. Write down the points you want to make in each chapter and make them, clearly and succinctly.
Many people may think writing a novella is easier than writing a novel, but some may argue it takes more skill because more has to be stuffed into a smaller package. I guess you can say quality is highly valued over quantity in this type of book. Though these steps can be applied to any literary work it is important that you follow these guidelines to ensure that your novella not only makes sense but receives a thumbs up from the reading community.
