The joy of novellas and novelettes

Why not give shorter stories a try?
Graphic by Mira Harumi De Koven @harumirart / The Concordian

I’ve always enjoyed fiction. I have found myself reading books that are really long or have too many subplots (*cough cough* The Stormlight Archive), but diving into shorter stories often left me waiting for the climax and the grand reveal. 

I recently acquired a collection of award-winning novellas from 1994. While this particular Nebula collection contained some world-renowned authors such as Arthur C. Clarke and Roger Zelazny, I realized there is much more to this form of writing than established authors writing stories not long enough for full, longer published works.

Novellas and novelettes are great alternatives that can be used to switch up your reading tempo. They are shorter stories that can bring the same punchy, epic, and interesting story while taking exponentially less time to read. 

It’s always interesting to see how the author will introduce their world and unveil an interesting story in such a short amount of time.

These types of work are generally classified as texts of 7,500 to 17,500 words for novelettes and 17,500 to 40,000 words for novellas. For reference, the ten most sold books of 2024 in Canada, according to CBC, have an average length of almost 90,000 words. Interestingly enough, one of them was a graphic novel, Claudia and the Bad Joke by Ann M. Martin, with approximately 30,784 words, the length of a novella.

These shorter stories strike a perfect balance between full-length novels and short stories. Being compact enough to be read in one or two sittings and long enough to have a story that doesn’t cut corners for word count’s sake brings the best of the two worlds together. Novellas and novelettes are still more than capable of introducing multiple complex characters, which don’t feel restricted by the fact that the story must end on the next page.

Writing and submitting shorter content, such as short stories, novelettes, and novellas, is the main method for aspiring writers to gain experience, try out new genres, and start putting their names out there.

On a yearly basis, there are dozens of competitions held with the goal of encouraging people with interesting ideas to share worlds they create and of giving new authors space to talk about issues that matter to them the most, showcasing the next generation of writers. 

Following such organizations on social media is a great way to not only support aspiring authors but also to get an influx of new and exciting ideas. Regardless of the genre you’re into at the moment, be it poetry, hard fiction, or nonfiction, there are plenty of organizations that aim to promote their local writers.

Novellas are also quite often published individually. However, as most bookstores sort by genre and not length, novellas are generally mixed in with full-length novels. It’s always a great idea to sift through the shelves of a particular section, looking for short and portable stories. 

In my experience, novellas and novelettes tend to evade our attention by being so small that their spines easily hide between larger books, but once you know what to look for, the game is on.

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