HOW LONG IS A NOVEL? HOW SHORT IS A NOVELLA?

A novel typically has around 95,000 words, although the range can cover anything from about 65,000 to say 350,000 or even longer. Children's novels for those who can read on their own may be shorter, say 35,000 to 40,000 words.

My own adult novels, those published on Kindle, are around 70,000 words, but if I were looking for a traditional publisher I would aim for at least 95,000 words to make the printing and distribution costs worthwhile.

A novella  is a short novel, say 20,000 to 40,000 words. It's difficult to get published traditionally in print, as the cost of printing outweighs its popularity and the price it can fetch in the bookstores, but it's now quite a popular format for e-books, eg Kindle.

The same rules apply for both novels and novellas.

Generally they must have a beginning, a middle and an ending. There should be a theme (which can usually be described in one word, eg loss, loneliness, courage, power, survival, ambition, greed, hatred, love, escape, justice, childlessness, disability) and a plot, which relates how this is overcome and reveals what happens first, what happens next and what happens at the end.

Writing a full length novel can be pretty hard graft, and it can be tempting to try and reduce your story to novella length. But generally a novel has far more 'meat' and gives you space to introduce more characters - oddball, funny or malevolent, but (of course!) always relevant to the overall theme and plot. 

WRITING 'REAL' DIALOGUE

'Real' dialogue in a story is NOT the same as dialogue in real life: So the first thing to do is to cut out all the Umms and Errs, all the Hellos and Goodbyes, discussions about the weather, etc. Then look at what's left and see how you can use it to reveal something about a) the characters, b) the plot, c) their relationship.

When someone reads a book, they see every word or sentence as having significance.

For instance, if a character says. 'I see they're having a sale at M&S tomorrow', the reader will think, Perhaps there's going to be a bombing there tomorrow, 200 killed, and maybe Tracey (the viewpoint character) will rescue the store manager and be offered a job in the next chapter as Chief Buyer!

Instead of which, there's just the usual boring Sale, or it's never mentioned again by any of the characters, and the reader wonders why it was ever mentioned in the first place!

So cut out all unnecessary information and use dialogue ONLY to advance the story in some way.

However, written dialogue should read - and sound - natural. Listen to those around you. People don't use whole carefully structured sentences, the exception possibly being politicians! In real life and in books people use half sentences, broken phrases. They interrupt each other. They interrupt themselves. They often finish each other's sentences.

FIRST DRAFT, FIFTH DRAFT - WHY BOTHER REVISING

However amazing your plot, however vital your characters, however seductive your setting, if your story/novel is poorly written it will be rejected.

So  revise, revise and revise again. Is your beginning attention-grabbing? Does your plot meander? Are there long periods of
nothing much happening?
What about superfluous adjectives, adverbs? Over-long descriptions? Telling, not showing?

What about the time scale? Have you allowed sufficient days, months or years for the action to take place?

I could go on forever, but why not make your own checklist? Here's a page from one of my own novels after a first time rewrite -, but not the last.

MINOR CHARACTERS

When A Character Comes To Life 

There's a minor character in my novel THE ARMCHAIR GUIDE TO HEAVEN who's stayed in my mind ever since. I see her so vividly although she has such a small part and appears mostly in the principal character's thoughts and dreams.

But somehow she has come to life and every now and then she gives me a nudge as if to say, 'When are you going to write about me? When am I going to get star billing?'

It started with a brief mention in Chapter 1: "...the clatter of dishes from the kitchen as Mum boiled the kettle dry and burnt the toast downstairs".

Later: "Mum, round faced and smiley, eyes ringed panda-like with far too much liner, hair bleached to the colour of straw. She used to cut it herself, pulling out strands to the length of three fingers and chopping them off without the aid of a mirror. I longed to give her a makeover."

Here's another reference: "The usual aroma of burnt toast drifts up the stairs. I can hear Mum arguing with Chris Evans on Radio 2 and I wait for the crash of china as she whips mugs and plates out of the cupboard. She's a multi-tasker, Mum is, but not very good at it. She's the most accident-prone person I know, mainly because she's impelled to do everything at the speed of light. I'm always telling her to slow down, the world isn't going to end tomorrow."

Well., that's Zoe's Mum, alive in Zoe's heart during her sojourn in Heaven, but still alive for me here on Earth even though the book is well and truly finished.

One day I think I'll make her the leader of a protest group, or get her elected to Parliament, or have her win the Lottery and buy an old people's home. Imagine the havoc she might wreak!

But that's for the future. I've too many other ideas to deal with right now.

Next time - Free Gift - an idea for a short story

WHAT EXACTLY IS A SHORT STORY?

A short story can be anything from 500 to 10,000 words. It's usually restricted to a single incident, a single episode in a character's life, a moment that changes someone's life or attitude in some way.

It doesn't necessarily have a beginning, a middle and an end. Sometimes it can be circular. 

There's no room for waffling, wordiness or over-long descriptions. 

Every word counts, every action is significant.

It should leave the reader feeling entertained, mystified, amused, thoughtful, disturbed, pleased or sad but, in one way or another, satisfied. Ideally, it should remain in the reader's mind for at least as long as it takes to read. A bit like a good poem, really.

Although it's short, that doesn't mean it's easy to write. 

In fact, it can be quite a challenge.

 Next time - When A Character Comes To Life

WHAT TO DO WITH ERIC

 Free Gift! An Idea For A Short Story 

I thought this up recently but I'm not going to write it as too many other projects have priority. So I'm throwing it open to anyone who's following this blog and would like to use or adapt it.

I think it would make a nice little black comedy. All I ask is that you let me have your comments.

Margaret, 50, is a widow. Her late husband Eric lives on the mantelpiece in the sitting room of her semi detached house in Kidderminster. Margaret hated Eric, a pompous, opinionated, mean spirited wretch, and was mightily relieved when he fell through the greenhouse roof and died.

Eric, The Not-So-Dear Departed

Eric's presence on the mantelpiece is a constant reminder of the miserable marriage she endured for 25 years. She longs to chuck his urn on the nearest rubbish dump, but every Sunday Eric's devoted Mum invites herself for tea and, while Margaret boils a kettle, prepares ham and tomato sandwiches and cuts slices from a Dundee fruitcake, Mum enjoys her weekly chat with her lost and much lamented son.

So how can Margaret possibly get rid of Eric? Perhaps the only solution is to get rid of Eric's Mum.

Why Start At The Beginning?

Beginnings are really crucial. How often do you pick up a book at the library or book store, glance at the first page and put it back on the shelves? But if you get past the first page, the first chapter, you'll probably want to read on.

In the good old days, before television and computers and Facebook and Twitter, perhaps readers had the necessary patience and concentration to follow a leisurely exploration of someone's life. Nowadays our attention span is much shorter. None of us wants to wade through whole chapters waiting for something to happen.

So don't start at the beginning. Start in the middle, with a real attention grabber, something that will hook your readers and draw them instantly into your story. A crisis, a murder, a love scene, a quarrel. 

Imagine your character in a situation that's dramatic, funny, emotional or atmospheric in some way and start at that point.

There! Isn't that better?

Next time - What exactly is a short story? How is it different from a novel?

WELCOME FELLOW WRITERS!

 This is my first post, and I can hear you sighing already. 'Oh no, not another blog on HOW TO WRITE, or HOW TO GET PUBLISHED, or even HOW TO GET RICH.'

Well, yes actually. Perhaps not the getting rich part  as I haven't had that pleasure yet, although last year I found myself unintentionally on the first step of that ladder.

I've told this story before in an earlier blog, but it still makes me smile, and I hope it will make you smile too. I call it 'Erotica or Notica'.

If you've ever published through KDP, Amazon's Kindle publishing arm, you'll know that they ask you to choose a couple of categories and sub-categories for your book, eg Contemporary Fiction, Crime, Romance, Fantasy etc.

I was also planning to publish a book in the Children's Fiction section, I added a second category, Adult Fiction.  For some reason this translated into Erotica and within a week thousands of readers in the UK, USA and elsewhere had downloaded it and I had made a nice little packet. Not on a par with Fifty Shades, of course, but a pleasant surprise.

As there was barely more than a whiff of erotica in the story, I expect there must have been quite a few disappointed readers (and I apologise to them again,  but it was Not My Fault!)

The moral of all this meandering (and my first tip) is: GET YOUR CATEGORIES RIGHT. 

Next time: Why start at the beginning?