Can Novellas Be As Memorable As Full-Length Novels? #MFRWauthor #WriteTip #MFRWorg #Writers #Authors

Novels v Novellas 

This week I had the pleasure of writing “Ends” on a novella I need to send off to my publishers. This is a novella, and while it was a treat to write, it was no less work than a novel. 

I am curious about what others think about the novella. I write short stories, novels, and novellas. 

The difference is the number of scenes and whether there’s space for subplots and extra characters. Novella’s weigh in at around 20-30K, but this in no way allows the author to cut corners on story just because the word count is smaller. After all, a novella is not the poor relation to the novel. It’s a slim-lined cousin with a dynamic edge. 

The honey you grab when you want to be entertained, but you don’t have all day about it. The quick, simple read that gives you the same impact and enjoyment as a longer novel but in a fraction of the time, because really it’s about the story—not the length. And isn’t an excuse to give your readers less.

Word count doesn’t matter if the story still packs a punch. A novella can produce compelling characters. If it’s well-written, a novella will keep your readers glued to its pages. Like a full-length novel, it should make your reader laugh-out-loud, wipe away tears, get angry on your main character’s behalf, and sigh when she gets to your Happy Ever After. 

Regardless of which length fiction we write, one thing remains the same. We have to ensure we hit all of the turning points, give our characters depth, show the reader their wounds, GMC, Wants and Needs, Int and Ext Conflicts, the Black Moment, Climax and Resolution.  The Sexual Tension and the pull push of the plot.

Like a novel, a novella’s plot needs depth and all the same attention to detail. In a novella, there’s no space for a ton of extras with speaking parts. Of course, our characters will come into contact with other people. They'll have friends and family, but this cast will be more off stage than on and will be there to add atmosphere. To let the reader know your H/h lives in a world which is not a total bubble.

As I said before, there are not as many scenes—obviously—and the scenes must move along. No time to wander, or for meandering intros. It’s a matter of get in, do the job, and get out. 

What is your take on novellas? Do you like reading them? Or do you prefer the longer novel? Share your comments below, I'd love to hear from you.


Monique

Author/Screenwriter Monique DeVere currently resides in the UK with her amazing hero husband, four beautiful grown-up children, and three incredible granddaughters. 

Monique writes Romantic Comedy stories some call Smexy—Smart & Sexy—and others call fluff. Monique makes no apologies for writing fun, emotional feel-good romance! She also writes Christian Suspense with a more serious edge.  


Monique loves to hear from her readers. You can contact her by visiting her http://moniquedevere.blogspot.co.uk to learn more about her and check out her other books.

#MFRWorg Author-to-Author: Do Books on Writing Help? @ZeeMahal #MFRWauthor

Do Books on Writing Help?
From someone who entered a creative writing course with illusions of muses and inspiration as essential elements to writing, I've become a believer of perseverance and good old hard work instead.

I understand now, the importance of structure and form, and that writing is an art that improves with practice not with longing. The more I read about the craft of writing, the more familiar I become with concepts that seemed mysterious and confusing at first but gradually become less so because I practice them. I appreciate more and more how much self-discipline and self-critique goes into creating a work of passion.

A writer has to work at not just writing, but re-writing. That comes only after we allow the first flush of finishing the first draft to wear off. But then, how to tell what to edit, what not to edit, what to keep and what to throw out of the metaphorical and sometimes literal window? Which darlings to kill? Or which darlings to kill first? It's a bloody business.

Which brings me back to my original question, do books on writing help? More often than not, I'd say they do in a colossal way. Albeit I’ve read several that felt like a total waste of time to me, there were those that will be forever on my nightstand. Like Margaret Atwood’s Negotiating with the Dead; Dorothea Brande's Being a Writer, Henry James's Notebooks. Schopenhauer’s essay, ‘On Style’, and White and Strunk's Elemants of Style are mini-bibles on writing. Edith Wharton, Ursula Le Guinn, and E. M. Forster, David Lodge, all have valuable advice from which I continue to benefit.

The very first change that these books engender in one is of attitude, I think. They teaches you to be less precious about your writing and the process of writing. You realize that the ease with which the words flow on the page of your favourite writer isn’t because she’s a natural genius, but because she worked, re-drafted, edited and crafted her words in a way that made them flow on the page, and that is her genius. There is a definite shift in the POV—one's own—and you learn to balance criticism and your own judgment of your work. This is imperative. This balance must be learnt and maintained at all times.

Though books on writing offer much, half the time there’s contradictory advice, and then what is a cardinal rule for one writer may be considered utter nonsense by another. And so the bigger question of whether 'it' can be taught arises. 'It' being the art of creative writing.

My belief in books on writing has sustained because there are still things like the ‘voice’ that teachers and writers on writing fail to explain and define. The fact that there is something that is elusive and individual, re-establishes for me, the wonders of what CAN actually be taught.

Of course, there are many who are unable to teach, perhaps because they themselves don’t understand the mysteries of the craft, or because they want to keep the ‘ivory tower’ and the I-am-a-writer-bow-down-to-me concept alive. Taking the analogy from Dorothea Brande, if music and painting can be taught, and we can have Picasso and Matisse, Monet and Van Gogh, perhaps writers too should stop feeling threatened by each other, and freely accept that some parts of their craft is teachable and somewhat transferable to at least some.

There are so many different kinds of genres. It isn't a verbal universe any more, but a verbal multi-verse. It is a multi-cultural, multi-lingual, pluralistic world out there.

Embrace it. Celebrate it. 

CONTRIBUTED by Zeenat Mahal 
Zeenat has published two ebooks with Indireads in 2013 and She Loves Me, He Loves Me Not is her third novel. The Contract was an Indireads bestseller.

Her book Haveli was up to number 17 on amazon kindle and The Contract went up to number 9 on amazonIn.

Zeenat loves reading and writing romance and her favourite writers in the genre are Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Julia Quinn, Nora Roberts and Judith McNaught.

How NOT to Promote #MFRWAuthor

I remember, from back when I watched television, a cable show named "What Not To Wear." The British version featured two snarkily delightful women. The American version gave us Clinton and Stacy, who had their own version of snarky, with a softer tone. The idea was the hosts would completely revamp the victim's  guest's wardrobe, to give said guest a more fashionably correct look. I sometimes felt they were attempting to reduce individuality in their guests but that's a matter for another time. Like watching a train wreck I found myself clicking on that show no matter when it aired.
Along the same lines I've observed author self promotions for several years and more than once I've wanted to force encourage those authors to take a clear look at how they were presenting themselves

BUY  MY BOOK

LOOK WHAT I DID

Over and over and over. If they belonged to multiple Facebook groups I saw their not so clever promotional announcement numerous times in the same day. And after a while I ceased actually seeing it, I simply deleted as soon as it showed up.
Slightly more subtle authors would insert links to their own books in replies to another writer's blog,whether relevant or not.
All of this adds up to the same feeling I got from the kid who sat behind me in the school auditorium and insisted on kicking the back of my chair. Distracting me from his actual message, which was probably somewhere along the lines of "Hi, I'd like to get to know you better." Another potential romance lost in the dust of miscommunication.

To avoid this, what do we NOT want to do?
Don't shove your book into every conversation.
Don't put your notices on automatic share across the virtual universe.
Don't self promote where it's not allowed.
Don't put your links into someone else's blogs or discussions unless asked.

What SHOULD we do?
Funny you should ask.
If you're not already an MFRW member, join and take advantage of the many offers to help you promote your book.
Become a part of Triberr so you can help promote others while they help promote you.
Invite other authors onto your blog (you do have an active blog, right?) so you can promote their books.
Have an active blog. Write from your heart and your convictions, whatever those might be.
Respond to other blogs that interest you with comments relevant to that blog. If it's a blog hop, all the better then you can get name recognition multiple times.
Join blog hops, write clever blogs relevant to the hop theme. Here you can mention your book, without  making it the entire blog.
Write a good book. Then write another good book. Keep that promise to your readers that they will find happiness in your words. 

Notice, none of these suggestions have you pushing your book? Instead you are gaining name recognition for yourself. You are NOT one book, you are an author of many wonderful books.

Seek, Teach, Share, Learn, SUCCEED

thoughts shared from  Mona Karel

Blog Hop Coordinator

In addition to occasional curmudgeonly outbursts, Mona writes Romance both normal and paranormal as a way to share her daydreams with the rest of the world. When not writing she wraps her world around her Salukis, her home in the New Mexico high desert, and photographing the quirky, the unusual, and the just plain gorgeous.