Good morning wordicorns and scribblers,
Let’s talk about flash fiction, short stories, novelettes, novellas, novels, and tomes (not sure that last one is really even a thing anymore).
Those words come with definitions, parameters, expectations.
They are extremely important, don’t get me wrong. I’m not about to start talking about burning it all down. Instead, I’m about to talk to you about boxes and why maybe we shouldn’t put ourselves in them before the blank page even has a letter on it.
You are a short fiction writer. You write novels. You saw there was a call for a novella, so you’ll be writing that now.
Sure, I get that.
But what about the story? What does it want?
I’ve taken novel ideas and turned them into poems and expanded poems to novels. I once planned a short story, but it became a novella. I tore a plot line from a novel to make a short story and wrote a poem when I thought it was sure to be more of a novelette.
I’m sure that will happen to you—or maybe it already has.
Now, you have two options.
You can make the story fit a role, tell it to be a certain word count. And sometimes, that’s better. Other times, it’s to the detriment of your plot, your characters, the sparkle or tension on the page.
You can also let the story do what it wants.
How do you know what to do? And how much does the label matter for the story?
Great questions.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
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