What Is a Novel?

The question that forms the title of this post may seem simple to answer; yet, is it?

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Image Courtesy of Julia Freeman-Woolpert ~ http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/juliaf-55850

I can imagine a few answers from certain folks:

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“A thick book with a story in it.”

“A continuous narrative of at least 50,000 words.”

“What a dumb question—everybody knows what a novel is.”

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The only problem is that many novelists would disagree with those answers; and, many other answers to the question.

Ur...