I certainly meant to post this on Friday. And then I meant to post it on Tuesday, and now it's technically Wednesday, but I'm going to backdate it to yesterday so the whole thing doesn't fall into anarchy. Suffice it to say, I had a lot going on. I continue to have a lot going on. I've been seriously considering putting the blog on a hiatus, but I'm a little afraid that if I stop, I'll never start again.
The space story and its space cops continues to churn around in my head. I also caught a bit of a Discovery Channel thing on Nikola Tesla's death ray, which gave me an idea about a time traveller. That's just how my brain works.
It's come to my attention, via last month's NaNo, that my mind doesn't really generate novel-length ideas. I guess it could, if I really beat it into submission, but it doesn't naturally come up with enough subplots and whatnot to fill over 50,000 words. I think novellas (17,500 - 40,000 words) might be where it's at. More than a short story, but not quite a novel. Because, yeah, I have short story ideas, things that can be told in under 7,500 words, but some things need more breathing room. Like anything with any world-building. I'd say the space story would probably end up at novella length, if I do it right. Even with creating that world and mysteries and conspiracies, I don't think it would be full novel length.
And novellas aren't a bad thing. Half the books assigned in high school English are novellas. Animal Farm. Of Mice and Men. The Old Man and the Sea. And while not assigned, a pair that I used for a project in 12th grade English: The Time Machine and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I love novellas. And you know who else loves novellas? E-book readers. Generally speaking, they like a quick read. I don’t know why, they just do. Maybe it's a short attention span thing. So if I wanted to, say, self-publish some stories on Amazon or whatever, novellas might actually be better.
Of course, it is still my goal to traditionally publish a full length novel. Have my name in bookstores and all that. But one step at a time.
What do you think? How long are your preferred books?
I'll see you Friday, unless I don't.
Novellas hit that sweet spot of being able to show off hearty characters and robust stories while still maintaining a lean, zero fillers plot. I love them.
ReplyDeleteAlso, don’t stop.
I had a blog of my own for just under a year - one editorial piece and one short story per week. I appreciate what I learned from forcing myself to adhere to a strict production schedule and truly miss a great many aspects of it.
I found that once I decided it was alright to go on a hiatus from the strict schedule, it was ever easier to put off writing in general. So, I did. Now my writing is horribly out of shape and terribly anemic. A simple prose is an embarrassingly strenuous task.
Without the hard deadlines I give myself too much time to mull over, manipulate, speculate, rehash, over-work, and generally kill my burgeoning stories. I slowed down and my writing got stuck in the mud.
Inertia doesn’t seem that important until it’s gone.
One last thing, please don’t stop because I rather look forward to reading your posts. I never miss one.