tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post5110493917597706391..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Coming in from the cold - Mari BiellaKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-21818052066132860862014-03-04T15:07:01.688+00:002014-03-04T15:07:01.688+00:00I've been meaning to comment on this excellent...I've been meaning to comment on this excellent and thought provoking post since it went up. I have several projects stashed away that I think are probably novellas - and I will certainly be playing about with them in eBook form. I think readers like shorter forms of fiction. I just think publishers - but especially 'big publishing' - didn't make enough of a profit from them. I love Heart of Darkness, The Great Gatsby, Dr Jekyll, and could add A Christmas Carol, the longer stories of Oscar Wilde - Dorian Gray for instance - and others. I'm not entirely sure that you can know what form a project should take until you start working on it. The result of this - in my case - is that I have a few things filed away that I loved working on (as opposed to the things I abandoned because they weren't up to scratch!) but probably gave up on because I could see that there wasn't enough material for a novel. Or perhaps I mean that they weren't diverse enough for a novel. For a while, I was looking for that elusive 'breakthrough novel' and a number of things fell by the wayside. It takes a change of perspective to be able to see that there was intrinsically nothing wrong with those ideas and that I can now just write them and let them be what they want to be. Catherine Czerkawskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14554969254207924049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-17276937357834598892014-03-03T10:41:49.656+00:002014-03-03T10:41:49.656+00:00I was once on a panel about digital publishing and...I was once on a panel about digital publishing and was asked what I thought was the best thing about ebooks, to which I answered that they would bring novellas to new audiences. What's wonderful is the way the past couple of years has seen this happen not just in ebooks but in print, thanks to small presses like Peirene, and Melville House's wonderful Art of the Novella series. Dan Hollowayhttp://danholloway.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-18621934147453771772014-03-02T13:34:59.115+00:002014-03-02T13:34:59.115+00:00Thanks for the replies, everyone. Jo – I’m really ...Thanks for the replies, everyone. Jo – I’m really hoping that e-books will lead to a renaissance for novellas; they do seem to fit together quite well.<br /><br />Lee – I can only speak from my own experience, but regarding the “natural length” of a book I realised early on that I wouldn’t be able to do justice to my material if I limited myself to a short story – it needed greater development – but also that it was never going to stretch to more than about 40,000 words. It just seemed that the story fitted the novella form perfectly.<br /><br />Jan – Well plugged indeed! It’s a wonderful idea to write novellas that can stand alone or could be put together to form a novel. Good luck with these!<br /><br />Lydia – I’ve read quite a few books with unnecessary padding – one, which shall remain nameless, involved a trip to the corner shop in which just about every item available for sale was listed! I did get the feeling that the author was just trying to increase his word count for the sake of it.<br /><br />Debbie – Good luck with your novella. Your experience mirrors my own – I guessed early on how far my story would stretch, and I wasn’t far off. And it is a bit of a balancing act between sufficient development and unneeded padding.<br />Mari Biellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14221256993468150226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-333999715086068972014-03-02T12:58:50.037+00:002014-03-02T12:58:50.037+00:00I've just finished writing my first novella at...I've just finished writing my first novella at 42k. I was fairly sure when I started that it wouldn't be a novel as I didn't have enough plot (but never say never, and I don't plan so was open-minded). I was right. The natural end came out at pretty much where I was expecting. One main character and no sub-plots and I' really rather pleased with the result. It's not easy to write at mid-length though - you have to develop but can't afford padding.Debbie Bennetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06761474820689143835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-23451088158037691352014-03-02T11:26:39.447+00:002014-03-02T11:26:39.447+00:00Anyhoo, back to Mari's excellent post, wasn...Anyhoo, back to Mari's excellent post, wasn't there a book of four novellas by Stephen King which yielded several huge blockbuster films? <br />I hate padding, many big publishers put out books which could have a third or more deleted and be only an improvement. if the characters stopped lighting fags and making cups of coffee thousands of pointless words would vanish! Those dragon tattoo things were full of it, a trip round Ikea took whole lifetimes to plough through, I suppose at least that was realistic and padding helps to cover up plot holes. seriously, a lot of brilliant novellas would result if padding was removed from novels which have been increased just to be called novels! ebooks should help put this right.Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-13670580183123475742014-03-02T11:24:42.570+00:002014-03-02T11:24:42.570+00:00well plugged Jan! ;) these sound great - my first ...well plugged Jan! ;) these sound great - my first commissioned play was about Admiral Collingwood (a local lad) and Nelson featured in it, and I'm a long time fan of Patrick O'Brian's novels. Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-58218779822172865752014-03-02T10:39:13.152+00:002014-03-02T10:39:13.152+00:00I've always loved novellas, which may be somet...I've always loved novellas, which may be something to do with being such a slow reader, i suppose. Also, I find it very difficult to stop reading a novel even if it's 'doing me ed in' with boredom, etc. But some novellas are wonderful, and i'm with Lee all the way on 'natural lengths' Conrad's novellas are almost all immensely powerful, his full length novels don't really do it for me.<br /><br />Now the ebook rev has made it all possible and exciting. And here's a thought - yesterday Endeavour Press brought out my latest novella, which is the start of a series about the life and times of Nelson, hoffentlich warts and all. Their plan is that every time I finish a set of three, say, it can come out as a 'novel' for those who prefer their fiction that way. Simple, eh? And in the meantime, it leaves me with much more 'free time' to work on other things.<br />And as anyone who wants to earn a crust from writing knows, opportunity, or opportunism, has to be the name of the game. On which principle I end with the url for Nelson - The Poisoned River. You pay a measly £1.99, I become a bloated millionaire!<br />http://amzn.to/1oekHl5Jan Needlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15823078224282953782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-51784571541129291022014-03-02T09:54:51.144+00:002014-03-02T09:54:51.144+00:00No argument from me about the value of a novella. ...No argument from me about the value of a novella. The only thing is, how do you really tell the 'natural' length of a story? I'm not convinced it's been handed down by the gods.Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770069472552779217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-57804250796731407252014-03-02T09:50:34.080+00:002014-03-02T09:50:34.080+00:00e-books are just made for the novella - I can see ...e-books are just made for the novella - I can see that print publishers find it hard to sell a short book for £7.99 when another twice the length for the same price sits beside it.<br /><br />But with ebooks anything is possible.JOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03127111575563904349noreply@blogger.com