What kind of writing is right for me?

What kind of writing is right for me?

This topic is one that rarely comes up. The reason I decided to discuss it a bit is because most people who want to write don’t actually know that there are options other than just a full-length novel.

First, let’s talk about the differences:

A Novel: This is what most everyone is familiar with. This is considered ‘full-length’ and usually sits around 70,000 – 150,000 words.

A Novella: Essentially, these types of books are just short novels. They range between 20,000 – 50,000 words on average.

A Novellete: These are rare, so it’s unlikely you’d see them on the shelf anywhere. But this is an even more condensed book, meant to be read in a single sitting with a word count between 7,500 – 15,000 on average.

A Short Story: It’s pretty obvious what a short story is, just a small piece of literature. These typically sit between 2,500 – 7,500 words.

In addition, there are also even smaller works that are often referred to as Flash Fictions (or a few other names). These are usually around 50 – 1,000 words.

So, now that we’ve defined the differences, what kind is right for me?

In order to answer that question, you need to look at the real reason these are different. In my personal opinion, it all comes down to two things: Motivation and Conciseness.

If you’ve ever made the decision to write a book before, I probably don’t need to talk to you about motivation. You’ll learn pretty quickly, first-hand, just how difficult it is to complete a novel. Sure, ideas come by the dozen. But putting those ideas into words over the course of hundreds of pages is no small feat. For many – and I mean MANY – the process ends up chewing you up and spitting you out. Trust me, it happened to me for years.

So what does that mean?

Well, your idea may be great and your interest high, but after you’ve put 20,000 words down you realized that you’re nearing the completion of your idea. Wait, what? Your book may end up reaching its resolution as a measly 27,000 words when you were aiming for 80,000. Wow, that’s frustrating.

What can you do from there? Well, there’s a few options. First, you can actually make the decision to classify your new book as something it fits better – such as a Novellete. Or, you can try to expand on it. Which brings me to conciseness.

Taking our last example, stretching your 27,000 word manuscript to 80,000 words just to be able to call it a novel is a huuuuuuge stretch. You managed to write the entire plot you had in mind in under 30,000 words and now you want to almost triple it? Where do you get the extra words from?

This is where people often get themselves into trouble. You really, really don’t want to just add FLUFF to increase your word count. No matter your story, you want it trimmed of all excess fat, meaning the final result is clean-cut, concise, and gets the story done without superfluous details.

Adding fluff is almost always a bad idea. Here’s the simple truth: Quality is ALWAYS better than Quantity!

Every reader would rather read 27,000 words of action-packed, fast-paced drama than 80,000 words that is 66% irrelevant text.

So, stick to your gut. But more importantly, try to plan out your story ahead of time. Once you start writing more, you’ll be able to get a rough idea of how long your completed novel will be just by your outline. You’ll learn to gauge how many words or chapters you’d need for each individual scene and can piece together an estimated total. If you lay out your entire plot and see you’ve got only three minor scenes and one major conflict resolution at the end, it’s time to make the decision on what kind of book you want it to be. If you’re set on a novel, head back to the drawing board and add more detail.

To re-iterate the message for today: Quality over Quantity. Be aware that there are other options for you. If you find you’re getting burnt out every time you try to sit down and formulate a plan for a novel, consider writing Novellas or even Novelletes.