Teaching What I Love: Novellas

A Favorite Format

I love novellas.  Like, seriously, I love them.  I keep a plethora loaded on my phone to keep me entertained while waiting on my work computer to boot, standing in line, waiting at the doctor’s office. They’re meatier than short stories and not as time consuming as novels (which makes them great phone books because you can keep the details in your head).  And with the rise of ebooks, they are POPULAR.  You see a LOT of novellas out there these days as bridges between longer releases.  I know that with my favorite series, I POUNCE on novellas that become available while I’m waiting on the next novel.

:Eyes Candis Terry’s Sweet, Texas series and wonders if there’s something more to tide me over until July:

A Smart Investment

All that to say, novellas are a smart time investment for writers.   For all the same reasons, they take less time to write and keep you in your readers’ minds while you’re working on something longer.

But novellas can be a weird length for people who are accustomed to writing longer or much shorter stuff.  Where do you draw the line on detail?  How much depth can you really cram in there?

As it happens, the novella is a personal favorite length of mine to write as well as read.  You know how there’s that little gem of writing advice that you should write a bunch of short stories before you write novels? (I don’t actually agree with this, as it happens, but it’s out there)  I tried that.  They all turned into novellas.  So I’ve written several and have been blessed that they sold well and helped me build my brand.

Hitchhiker's gestureI want to share my knowledge with you to help you write the best novella you can, so I’ve created an On Demand class through W.A.N.A. International: The Hitchhiker’s Guide To Novella Writing-Rules of Thumb (please note, geektastic knowledge of Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is not required).  The basic class is $40.  At the Gold level ($120), I actually help you whip your concept into a novella shaped thing that will actually WORK.  So if you’re interested, click on through and sign up.  As I said, it’s on demand, so if you decide at 3 in the morning that you just can’t live another hour without knowing the secrets to good novella writing, you can FIND OUT RIGHT THEN.  (Please ignore any dates on the listing–the software isn’t set up to NOT have dates).  And if you know of anybody who might be interested, please share!

3 thoughts on “Teaching What I Love: Novellas

  1. I love reading and writing novellas. For most of the same reasons you do. When it comes to writing, I find that I feel under a lot of pressure when I write a novel, but writing novellas are fun. That’s the natural length for me, I think.

  2. So… I purchased the workshop and received confirmation that I bought it, but I have no idea how to access it. Was I supposed to be emailed a link? Was the link on the vendor page supposed to turn into a video?

Leave a Reply to Belinda Kroll Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.