Thursday, April 05, 2018

On Writing: Writing Lengths


A video version of last week's Family: Ties that Bind post.
It's like a novel going to a movie...it changes things.

For a long time, I've used that analogy to compare the books I write.  

When I write a short story, it's like a music video.  I try to encapsulate a complete beginning, middle and end in a handful of pages.  

When I write a novella it's a movie of the week.  Again, there's a beginning, middle and end, but I have more room to flesh things out.

Finally, when I write a full novel, it's a in-the-theater movie.  No commercials and even more room to drill down to the heart of the story.

That's why I still write all three...I like the variety and the different way of looking at a story.  

I was in the studio one day, working on some ceramic wooden spoons and had the idea for a story.  It was short and to the point...I named it Spoons: A Love Story.  LOL (Those are my ceramic wooden spoons on the cover.)  Then there was the day I bought a book and found the inside was carved out....it became The Book.  I blogged about it a couple months ago here.  As a writer, my focus in a short story is focused on a couple and generally one pivotal moment. I don't have time for any peripheral incidents or people...there's just not room.

I hope when a reader picks up a short, it's a quick break from the real world.  I'll confess, sometimes reading a short story is all the time I have.  I put a collection together in Short Stories for the Overworked and Under-Read.  I think that title says it all! LOL  Speaking of which, there's one novella in that collection which segues into...

Novellas.  Like a short, I'm still focused on one couple.  If there are other characters, they don't get much word-time.  And I'm still looking at a tight time-line.  That novella in Short Stories for the Overworked and Under-Read was a very specific timeline...the title is 13 Weeks.  LOL I guess that says it all.  After I wrote Christmas in Cupid Falls, I had an idea for another story for one of the Amish Cupid Falls' characters.  I had sketched in another full book, and this one nagged at me...it became A Simple Heart and carried on the Cupid Falls legend from the book.

When I'm writing an entire novel, I have a lot more time to play with secondary characters and world building.  Well, I don't build worlds...I build towns, or neighborhoods, but I love fleshing those out.  I'm working on another cozy mystery right now, and the community my heroine lives in is almost a character in its own right.  There's a few of those on sale this month:

That's how I look at what I write.  I think it's a good explanation.  If you're a writer, I hope this gives you something to think about.  I'd love to know what you think.  And if you're a reader...I hope you'll check out one of my  shorts, novellas and novels (or more) and get back to me with your thoughts!

Thank you to all my new followers!  If you just dropped in, you can look at the top right of this blog and find a subscription button.  I hope you'll subscribe or just drop in from time to time.  I talk about books, writing, going back to school, renovating the cottage (I'm putting pictures up next week) and...just my crazy life in general. 

Holly




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