Writing a novelette can is tough when the first question people ask is, “What is a novelette?” The short answer is defining it with word length – 7,500 to 17,000 words, generally speaking – but this doesn’t really give a good idea of what it is about.
For example, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is 16,740 words but is considered a novella. Like in any other topic when it comes to a craft, the rules act more as guidelines.
Traditionally, there is a very easy way to tell a novelette from a novella. They tend to be more whimsical, often romantic, and have many of the restraints a short story. Edgar Allan Poe’s The Spectacles is a classic example, describing a man who for lack of wearing spectacles, accidentally marries his 82-year-old toothless grandmother. At just over 9,200 though, many would consider it a short story. By contrast, Daphne du Maurier’s The Birds is listed on many websites as a novelette, yet features all the hallmarks of a short story.
The main tenets of a novelette though, is that they are highly focused, and complete stories.
Why then write a novelette, if it will continuously sit in some no-mans-land between novellas and short stories?
And what makes it different to a short story or novella?
When compared to short stories, the length isn’t the only difference with novelettes. Aside from a less serious form, novelettes generally need greater development of elements. Where short stories generally focus on a single scene, novelettes can expand much further. Not all short story writers will want to expand so much in their work, but even unpublished, novelettes can help shorter form writers. A novelette is a complete story. Conversely, in The Birds, there are elements missing. The ending, for example. Short stories don’t need them. Some of the best short stories start part way through the plot, or finish at the climax and leave the reader to imagine the rest for themselves. Writing a novelette is different because it is complete.
So what about novellas? Well, this is where novelettes have their similarities with short stories. Novellas have sub plots, multiple twists, and complex character relationships. They are constrained or focused novels, for lack of better terms. Novelettes are theme focused, limited in the cast of characters, and can’t really mess around with too many, if any, sub plots or twists. Getting back to Poe, The Spectacles was themed around the debate on love at first sight. Every plot point led to the meeting, marrying, and then revealing the woman, with a single twist revealing the comedic turn. No red herrings, no side quests.
In short, a novelette is more focused than a novella and more complete than a short story. The number of words is important, particularly if the novelette is to be entered into competitions, but the concise yet complete aspect is what really sets them into a category of their own.
It’s also the reason they are so incredibly beneficial to both short story writers and novelists.
The Benefits of writing a novelette – novelists
Writing a novel means writing in length. 100k+ words is not uncommon for a manuscript. Some manage their way into the 300k-500k words. The problem with such long stories is that the elements can wander. There are opportunities for the theme to wander, characters to get sidetracked by a sub plot, or to have chapter upon chapter of world building. They are not all errors. They can make the story interesting, give it unexpected twists, and can set up the sequels. But they can also make the novel lose focus.
The reason writing a novelette is so beneficial is because they force the writer to limit their scope. In short, they are an exercise in concise, succinct writing. In that 17,000 words, they need to establish a theme, introduce and grow the characters, build the world, and progress a logical and believable plot all the way to the conclusion. It makes for a strong story, and is such strength can be maintained for the entirety of a novel, it will be a richer story for it.
Benefits of writing a novelette – short story writers
By contrast, the short story writer can benefit by fleshing out the world and characters that feature in their short stories. Think of it this way; imagine writing a story based in your home town. Use a well-known local character and an event in which you both were involved. You already know the character and how they would react. In fact, everything is a known, so writing the story is pretty simple. It might be less interesting to write, but the story will have depth. Now compare this with writing from scratch. Characters, setting, plot- they must all be created before (or during) the writing of the story. While it is far more interesting to write, the exploration of elements can sometimes come out in the writing as filler.
Writing a novelette allows the writer to create all that supporting information to back up a short story. Whether a short story is meant as a scene in a larger story, or simply as a story by itself, it will always be taking part in a larger world. By fleshing out the world in a novelette, it gives life, believability and substance to the story. A short story doesn’t need to flesh out its elements completely, but it still needs to feel like it is part of a larger world, like the characters have larger motivations and personalities, and like the plot has a depth yet to be revealed. Where a novelette is an exercise in concise, succinct writing for a novelist, it is the completion of a short story. It is the background, the history, and the completion that compliments the scene.
Should I publish a novelette?
Writing a novelette is helpful. Publishing one can be as well, but not in every case. They can be massively helpful in developing the craft of writing, but it may not always be helpful to publish. This is where they share most in common with novellas. Publishing a novelette can be great to give a taste of your work, or show the background of a character. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion and Martin’s The World Of Ice And Fire are great examples of how these types of books support their primary novels, though they are far beyond the novelette word count!
Publish or not though, the choice is up to the writer. If it supports your writing, or you have the burning desire to let your readers know more, then it absolutely can work. But not all writers will want that. It may just be a supporting text confined to your study. Either way, the writing a novelette can help your other writing in being concise and complete. Whether for you own benefit, or to publish for the world to see, it is an exercise all writers should try at least once.
Famous Novelettes
The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe, 1843, James Russell Lowell | Word Count: 2093
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson, 1886, Longmans, Green & Co. | 16,740 words
The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe, 1839, Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine | 11,165 words
The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka, 1915, Kurt Wolff Verlag | 16,000 words
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1943, Reynal & Hitchcock | 16,534 wordsThe Call Of Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft, 1928, Weird Tales | 11,905