Member-only story
The Novella: More Than Just the Ignored Little Brother of the Novel
You have time for these, no matter how busy you are
We all know about novels, and most here read (and write) short stories, but there is an often overlooked category of fiction that we should all be reading. That ignored middle child is the novella.
Some of you may be saying, “Wait, isn’t a novella a Latin American soap opera?” No that’s a telenovela, and as entertaining as those are, even if you don’t speak Spanish, a novella is so much better. Let’s get the definition out of the way first.
Generally speaking, a novel is defined as a work of fiction over 50,000 words, a short story as a work between 1,000 and 9,000 words, and flash fiction as under 500 words. The novella falls squarely between the novel and the short story; it is a story between 10,000 and 40,000 words.
Though they tend to be a more popular form for European and South American authors — French Nobel Prize winner Patrick Modiano has built an entire career writing novellas — there are numerous examples from British and American authors as well, they’re just not marketed that way. Just a few of those include The Turn of the Screw, Animal Farm, War of the Worlds, Heart of Darkness, and The Old Man and the Sea. You’ve probably read at least a few of these…
