Not long ago I experimented with the idea of writing a novella. Although the project didn’t end up going anywhere, my thought process during the brief encounter swung somewhere between excitement of a challenge and outright fear.
The fear might surprise someone who doesn’t normally write under deadline. For me, there is some element of fear every time I start a new project. I’m a seat-of-the pants writer, which means I only have a vague idea of how the story will unfold. I know the setting, the major conflict and a basic idea of the ending, but I only get to know the characters and the theme of the story as I write. Sometimes I feel like the first reader of the book, not knowing what’s going to happen next and surprised at the turns I uncover.
The fear comes in because I know I only have a certain amount of time for all the fun that comes along with seat-of-the-pants writing.
My fear at writing a novella was more than the typical seat-of-the-pants fear. Plain and simple, it was fear of writing short. I recently came across a Blaise Pascal quote that sums up my feelings exactly:
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter.
—Blaise Pascal
Put “book” in the place of “letter” and there you have it. It’s easy to ramble on, to sort of babble on paper, and in stories to explore rabbit trails, to take time getting to know the characters. We have room to add lots of subtle hints at motivation, to expand back story or a foundational impetus that might add another layer to our hero or heroine.
And speaking of layers, it’s so easy to add layers to a longer book! Subplots, little quirky twists that offer a broader, deeper insight into our character’s slice of life.
I’m not here to argue that War and Peace is inferior to Animal Farm because it’s ten times longer. What I’m saying is that for me, novellas present a particular challenge because a reader of romantic stories expects every bit as much honest motivation, clear conflict, romantic tension packed into 80 or 100 pages as in a full length novel. Explaining motivation is a lot easier to do when we have the time to explore possible reasons behind the inner obstacles a character must overcome.
If I ever do write a novella, and I really do want to one of these days, I will most likely write many more pages than end up included in the final version of the story. The real test will be in my ability to cut out what isn’t absolutely necessary.
Which reminds me of another quote:
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
I’ll leave you with the thought that sometimes streamlining is preferred, depending on the circumstance. I’m hoping to make it through this week’s writing without getting sidetracked, as I so often do, by minutia that won’t really matter once I step away then return with a fresh eye.
My thanks to the following blog for the inspirational quotes:
I just finished writing a 10,000 page novelette. I planned it to be a short story but it did not work out that way. I could have stretched it to a novella but it would have sounded stretched.