Novels and novellas

[GrantBricksly]

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From another source.

Regardless of the definition you are using, you still have to keep in mind, that some people (myself included) look at this, see that a novella is 30k-50k. And a novel is 50k+ and then say.."ok, well my overall story is going to be at least 50k+, so it counts as a novel....but I'm going to submit it one chapter at a time, which will clearly be smaller....but it doesn't matter, because the whole story, still counts as a novel."

 

[Britva415]

I was fully expecting there to be some other distinction besides just word count. Many short stories are longer than the figures given here for "novelettes".

I think I'm getting the picture - "novelette" isn't a literary expression at all. It's a commercial category. It's totally absent from all study of literature I've ever been exposed to.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Like I said, it's terminology. It doesn't mean a thing when the letters meet the page. The story is what matters, not its length. You can publish in any category you want as far as I'm concerned.

Regardless of the definition you are using, you still have to keep in mind, that some people (myself included) look at this, see that a novella is 30k-50k. And a novel is 50k+ and then say.."ok, well my overall story is going to be at least 50k+, so it counts as a novel....but I'm going to submit it one chapter at a time, which will clearly be smaller....but it doesn't matter, because the whole story, still counts as a novel."

 

[MillieDynamite]

I didn't intend to introduce any conflict or controversy here. Not that it has any importance at all, but this might answer questions. What Is a Novelette, Anyway?

Again, it's the writing that matters, not what you call it.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Great thread! I’m writing chapter two of my story. Chapter one was clearly in the incest category, but chapter two will have elements of erotic coupling and exhibition and end with an intense incest scene. It also will take place during the early days of the COVID virus outbreak. That actually will be a significant part of the story, so I am leaning towards the Novels and Novellas category. So I have a couple of questions. Is it okay to have chapter one as incest, chapter two as Novels and Novellas and chapter three as another category? I’m shooting for this chapter to be around 10,000 words. Is that enough for a Novella chapter?

I wouldn't say it's "not okay" to have some chapters in N&N and some elsewhere, but I don't think it's a good idea. One of the positive aspects of N&N as a category is that it frees you from any categorization restraints. Posting chapters in and out of the category seems counter to that purpose.

As for the length of chapters, there is no limit other than the overall site rule of a 750 word minimum. If you write a 50,000 word novel and publish it as ten separate 5,000 chapters, that would be acceptable. The first chapter of my first novel is only one Lit page long.

 

[GrantBricksly]

I didn't intend to introduce any conflict or controversy here. Not that it has any importance at all, but this might answer questions. What Is a Novelette, Anyway?

Again, it's the writing that matters, not what you call it.

I dont think you did. I think the topic itself is just an odd one...because there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer. I went and looked it up myself when I began my current project...and couldn't find a solid answer. All I determined was that my overall end total was definitely going to be long enough to count as a novel.

So if I gave you the impression that you were being controversial or conflicting, I apologize, I was simply adding my two cents.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

I wouldn't say it's "not okay" to have some chapters in N&N and some elsewhere, but I don't think it's a good idea. One of the positive aspects of N&N as a category is that it frees you from any categorization restraints. Posting chapters in and out of the category seems counter to that purpose.

Well said, Melissa, and so true. Also, while I've never done it, I've seen it said in the AH pages that category jumping this can lead to even greater loss of readers than normal chapter-to-chapter loss, so that's another potential argument against it if N&N covers it all.

 

[TheLobster]

I was fully expecting there to be some other distinction besides just word count. Many short stories are longer than the figures given here for "novelettes".

I was taught in my literature classes that a novel has to have multiple interlocking plot threads, which might include evolving stories of multiple characters. A simple story that only follows the exploits of one PoV characters, especially if it's very episodic ("X seduced and fucked A, then B, then C"), would not qualify as a novel under this definition, no matter how many words it has.

Some relatively short works are traditionally considered novels because they fall under the above definition. such as Heart of Darkness which only has 20k-ish words.

 

[JayHawnee]

Great thread! I’m writing chapter two of my story. Chapter one was clearly in the incest category, but chapter two will have elements of erotic coupling and exhibition and end with an intense incest scene. It also will take place during the early days of the COVID virus outbreak. That actually will be a significant part of the story, so I am leaning towards the Novels and Novellas category. So I have a couple of questions. Is it okay to have chapter one as incest, chapter two as Novels and Novellas and chapter three as another category? I’m shooting for this chapter to be around 10,000 words. Is that enough for a Novella chapter?

Switching categories is definitely fine, but from a visibility standpoint, I’d recommend being cautious with the Novels and Novellas category. I’m currently writing a slow-burn series about a female character’s sexual awakening and gradual dive into nudism. Since the early chapters didn’t contain much nudity or sex, I published them under Novels and Novellas, but especially chapters 2 and 3 received noticeably fewer views compared to later chapters. Once I shifted to the Exhibitionist and Voyeur category with chapter 4, the story gained significantly more traction. Chapter 5 hasn’t been up for long, but it’s already on track to surpass chapter 2 in views.

If your second chapter ends with an Incest scene, I’d recommend keeping it in that category. It generally gets much higher visibility on Literotica, especially compared to the Novels & Novellas category.

As for length: all my chapters are around 5,000 words or a bit less, and that’s been perfectly fine. So I’d say 10,000 words is definitely enough .

 

[Britva415]

I was taught in my literature classes that a novel has to have multiple interlocking plot threads, which might include evolving stories of multiple characters. A simple story that only follows the exploits of one PoV characters, especially if it's very episodic ("X seduced and fucked A, then B, then C"), would not qualify as a novel under this definition, no matter how many words it has.

Some relatively short works are traditionally considered novels because they fall under the above definition. such as Heart of Darkness which only has 20k-ish words.

Bingo.

That would make Old Man And The Sea "not even" a novella but a long short story, though its word count exceeds even the "novelette" category.

I did see one reference to how a novelette might be printed into a stand-alone book, though very small. Maybe this is what separates it from the short story: Whether due to length, or subject matter, or story structure, or whatever else, a short story doesn't get its own stand-alone book, and anything which does has to be named with one of those ones which starts with "nov."

 

[MillieDynamite]

I'll try harder next time. I mean, thanks.

I dont think you did. I think the topic itself is just an odd one...because there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer. I went and looked it up myself when I began my current project...and couldn't find a solid answer. All I determined was that my overall end total was definitely going to be long enough to count as a novel.

So if I gave you the impression that you were being controversial or conflicting, I apologize, I was simply adding my two cents.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I wouldn't say it's "not okay" to have some chapters in N&N and some elsewhere, but I don't think it's a good idea. One of the positive aspects of N&N as a category is that it frees you from any categorization restraints. Posting chapters in and out of the category seems counter to that purpose.

As for the length of chapters, there is no limit other than the overall site rule of a 750 word minimum. If you write a 50,000 word novel and publish it as ten separate 5,000 chapters, that would be acceptable. The first chapter of my first novel is only one Lit page long.

The biggest advantage of publishing in Novels/Novellas, IMO, is that it set the expectation of the readers that they will be embarking on a longer story. I also know from my own experience, that while readers will follow along with a good story submitted in chapters or parts in N/N, many prefer a single, larger submission.

Submitting parts of a story to N/N and parts in different categories seems like a recipe for failure. I know that if I came across a story like that, I would ignore it completely. I view it as a sign of the writer not being confident if his or her material to figure out what the entire story was about. If the writer can't figure it out, why should I even try?