Thursday Thoughts: Novel Thoughts
When is a novel not a novel?
According to facts, a novel is typically between 70 000 and 100 000 words but can be as short at 40 000, but the widely accepted minimum is 50 000 words.
When I set out to write my first novel during National Novel Writing Month, I didn’t have any expectations of finishing it in 30 days. How’s that for setting the bar low?
“You’re going to fail so just accept it.”
Well in the end I did achieve my goal of not writing a novel in 30 days, so there.
But I did have 30 000 words so I published it as a novella. And I kept writing the story because it ended, but not quite since there were a few loose ends that were answered in book two, which was getting a bit to long so I split it into two and published them eight months apart.
So what do you do with three novellas of about 30 000 words each? Slap them together in one paperback volume to have a complete trilogy of 90 000 words right smack dab in the meaty part of the curve.
Is it a novel? Well according to the internet:
“If the three novellas are closely linked, forming a single, continuous narrative with a shared overarching plot, then they can be called a novel.”
So there you go. I have a novel. Four years after I started.
Not too bad.
-Leon
Buy The View from Here: The Complete Trilogyin paperback on Amazon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
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