Write a Novella

A novella is a work of fiction somewhere between a short story and a novel in length. It amounts to around 20,000 to 50,000 words, or perhaps 50 to 100 printed pages, if published. It's a good length to practice writing longer stories before approaching a full-blown novel.

Steps

Writing Help

Doc:Mindmap for Novella,Novella Outline,Novella Excerpt

Writing Your Own Novella

  1. Brainstorm. Use mind maps, graphic organizers, Draw a Venn Diagram, journals, and/or any other method that helps you develop and organize your ideas. Think about all genres (e.g., horror) of stories you might enjoy writing. At this stage, don't throw out an idea for any reason, just jot it down somewhere to play with (or not) later. You could think about plot lines, characters, a setting, or even a title.
    • If you prefer, write about something else entirely, just to avoid staring at a blank page / screen, but don't forget about your main project. On the other hand, you never know — that "experiment" could very will find its way into this or another story of yours.
  2. Plan your novella. If a traditional outline is not the way your mind works, try a tree structure, free notes, pictures, index cards, or even a wiki to collect, arrange, and rearrange your writing. For ideas and templates for organizers see http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/.
  3. Revise your plans with the help of your peers, parents, and / or teachers. Once you have some basic ideas, review the ideas and connect them to the plan. You can always adjust the plan throughout the process. Put them in order, rearrange them, think of more, and take out or set aside scenes or ideas that don't seem to belong.
  4. Create a conflict. Virtually all fiction, in order to have some structure, is based on a conflict of some sort — two worlds collide. Time-honored structures include these:
    • Fantasy versus Reality
    • Man/Woman/Creature versus Life
    • Man/Woman/Creature versus Man
    • Man/Woman/Creature versus Nature
    • Man/Woman/Creature versus Him/Herself
    • Man/Woman/Creature versus Society
    • Man/Woman/Creature versus God
    • Country versus Country
    • Race versus Race
    • Person versus Illness
    • Fish out of water (perhaps a variant on man/woman-versus-nature).
    • Coming of age (a variant of man/woman versus him/herself).
    • Boy meets Girl
    • Girl meets Boy
    • Nature versus Nature
    • Magic versus Person
    • Person versus Magic
    • Religion versus Politics
    • Child versus Adult
    • Adult versus Child
    • Opinion versus Opinion
    • Religion versus Science
    • Science versus Religion
    • Teacher versus Student
    • Student versus Teacher
  5. Begin writing with the above outline in mind (for example, introduction to include setting and characters, conflict establishment, crisis leading to rising action and climax). Remember, you need not start writing at the beginning of your story, and you need not start the novella at the beginning of the story. In fact, giving the reader a glimpse of what lies ahead (Create Suspense in Fiction) is a great way to create suspense and momentum right away.
  6. Try freewriting, whether by typing or writing in longhand. Write to be creative, write anything at all to get started and warmed up. Play with your theme or genre by including something in the background such as music, videos, video games, sound effects and photographs, to get a feel for it.
    • Try to turn off all the filters, both in your software and in your mind, for the first draft, and quit being afraid of "messing up". One way to do that is to write as much as you can, as fast as you can. If it comes out badly, you can always revise and edit it later, or shelve it entirely and try again. Get the ideas down first.
  7. Find the right pace for your story. Since a novella is a shorter work, you might not explore every detail along the way, nor write a grand and sweeping epic following your characters' entire lifetimes. Use the shorter length as an advantage to focus your story and make it more powerful, more intense. At the same time, don't gloss over too many specifics. Include enough detail to make it believable, specific, and concrete.
  8. Edit a Short Story with suggestions from readers. You may want to start the process the minute you are done writing. On the other hand, you may want to give the work some time to cool, so that you can look at it with fresh eyes. Either way, give the editing process the time it deserves, even if it's not as much fun as the initial writing process was. When you're ready, have somebody else take a look at it and comment on it for a detached and fresh perspective.
  9. Publish the story. This could consist of anything from handing a copy to your mom to self-publishing on the web or an on-demand (vanity) press (see external links), to submitting the work to book or magazine publishers. Even if you think small, having an audience in mind for your novella will make your story better.

Tips

  • Make it a daily routine and write at a consistent time each day.
  • Choose one tense and stick to it. The past tense is usually a little easier to read than the present tense, for a fictional story.
  • Choose one person and stick to it. Either write in the first person (I, me) or the third person (he, she, they). The second person (you) is better left for instructions. Remember the "choose your own adventure" books you read as a kid?
    • If you write in the third person, decide in advance whether you will share everybody's thoughts (third-person omniscient) or the perspective of a single character (third-person limited).
    • Write down your characters' names and other details in a separate place so that you're not wondering by page 26 whether it was Mark or Mike who made his entrance on page 4.
  • Unless you're writing for a publisher or a deadline, it's okay if the novella ends up shorter or longer than you planned. That just means that you have a short story or a novel, instead. It's more important that the story be complete — short or long, your readers won't appreciate an incomplete story of any length. Get caught up in the story, not its exact length.
    • Talking of length, don't be afraid to deviate from your plans, especially if you want to increase your word count, or if you get stuck. Extra words for their own sake may not improve your writing, but in a novella-length piece, don't hesitate to add to mood, explore background or sub-plots, have your character or characters introspect for a while, or even talk about the weather. You never know when a sub-plot or other digression will turn into a major theme of your story, or even spin off into a story of its own.
  • Carry around a notebook to catch ideas (for example, plot ideas, or interesting names for characters) as they come up. Keep it by your bed, too. The mind is often best at free association when it is on the edge of sleep.
  • If you're looking to Write a Play Based on a Book and turn it into a play or screenplay, a free and useful program is Celtx. It's also a nice place to start typing your story out in text form so you don't have to import it into the program later.
  • If you've read a book you have enjoyed, try writing a sequel to it. If you have a topic you are passionate about, the novella will be more interesting for the readers.
    • However, because this would be considered fan fiction, be aware that you'll also have to go through the process of licensing the original work from the original author. Still, even if you can't or don't want to publish it, it's good practise.
    • Examples of successful books based on existing books (for example Gone With The Wind) include Scarlett (a sequel) by Alexandra Ripley and Rhett Butler's People (a prequel) by Donald McCaig, both published with the full cooperation of Margaret Mitchell's estate.

Warnings

  • Too much dialogue and too much narrative can both bog down a story. As you edit your work, try to balance the two.
  • Save your drafts as different files (e.g. draft one, draft two) and date them, at least until your story is finalized. You might decide you liked an earlier version better, only to find you deleted it.
  • Novellas are not the most popular or best-selling format for writing, as most publishers are more likely to accept novels and short stories, but not the middle ground. As such, they can be very difficult to publish, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.

Things You'll Need

  • Time to write and exercise your imagination
  • Patience
  • A well-plotted, well-populated story
  • An underlying message within the plot
  • An emotional plot within the characters

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