Novella Recommendations

[Michael]

I engaged in a conversation recently with a fellow author about writing novellas. I attempted to write one as a prequel to the sci-fi series I am currently working on, but I just couldn't bring myself to publish it. It didn't seem to hold up to the same level of quality as did my first novel. This led me to realize that it's actually easier to write a full-length novel than it is to write a novella. There just doesn't seem to be enough time to develop likable characters, a rich setting, and an engaging plot in 75-100 pages of material.

Part of my problem could well be that I've spent all of my fiction reading in the novel/epic format, so I don't have any experience with shorter length stories to have developed an understanding of how authors do it. With that in mind, I am soliciting your recommendations for your favorite novellas, so I can learn how to write in short-form successfully.

I prefer sci-fi, historical, and literary fiction, but I'll make exceptions for most other genres if I can learn something from the author along the way.

[Mike]

I'm a big fan of the novella format. There's no wasted space and the reader doesn't have time to get bored!

Try Heinrich Böll perhaps. His two famous postwar novels were actually novellas, being about 34,000 words, and they're pretty memorable.

The Train Was on Time
The Bread of Those Early Years

[Shane]

I know what you mean. A story I thought would take around 30,000 words ended up being 60,000. I picture a short story like a TV episode. A novel like a two hour movie. So maybe a novellas inbetween like an HBO episode, one hour long. I guess its all in the size of the story. The Shawshank redemption is a good novella and its only 92 pages. You'd think a movie like that would of been a full length novel but nope.