My Errant Mind

For some reason my mind has been on novellas and novelettes recently. OK, I know why. I occasionally despair of ever getting a full-length novel written.

Which is part of the reason I blog.

When I start despairing, I cleverly try to convince myself that perhaps it is not meant to be a novel. Perhaps it is meant to be something else?

Still, a lot of the stories I have been dabbling with are simply not the kind to be told in a novel. Some are pushing well past short story length. The fact I have several in the works and have not finished them is—in part—ascribable to having focused my reading and learning of the craft on the short story form and novel.

Duly noting my lack of extensive reading and research on the craft of the two lengths/forms, I thought I would see what interesting things I could turn up online. I thought I would share the fruits of my labors with you…

• The Novella: A Personal and Professional Exploration, by Jeff VanderMeer. This appeared in Heliotrope Magazine and is a real gem. It is available in PDF format. If you wonder why the heck you bother to write novellas and whether there is any good reason to do so, this is a must read.
• Hayseed Novellas is dedicated to publishing only novellas. Three, each issue. Trying to bring the form a little more prominence and respect, Hayseed is doing things a bit differently. Different is good, especially if you happen to have a penchant for the middling length fiction forms.
• London Bone, a novelette by Michael Moorcock. In case you’re wondering what a novelette is, read this one by a favorite author of mine, who just so happens to be one of the greatest fantasy writers of all time. I grew up reading Moorcock along with Burroughs, Howard, Lovecraft, Bradbury, Heinlein, Tolkien, Wolfe, Bova and Asimov. His Corum series was my favorite and if you like Celtic mythology, you will likely enjoy it too if you have not already had the pleasure of reading them.
• The Novel, The Novelette, And The Short Story on OldAndSold.com. It helps if you can tell them apart, no? Good piece on the different forms.

And, well, that is sort of it. Seriously, searching for ‘novelette’ or ‘novella’ reveals an amazing and interesting thing: everyone is writing one, the other, or both.

No, really. Everyone!

Where before everyone tried their hand at novels, now they try their hand at novelettes and novellas. What’s to be expected in a world where everything is sped up thanks to technology?

One reason may also be that independent publishing has allowed a sort of minor resurgence of the forms. Even some genre magazines seem more inclined to publish them. Whatever the case may be, search results pulled up hundreds of pages where authors talk about writing a novelette or novella. Strangely, it is amazingly difficult to find any ‘how-to’ articles on the craft of doing so.

Which is why there is only a pathetic four links for you above.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I may go work on a novella of my own like everyone else.