Expanding short story to a novel

[nested456]

Has anyone written short stories here then expanded them to novel length? How did you find it? Did you try and publish it here or elsewhere?

I'm thinking about expanding my incest series into a full novel, where the incest plot becomes part of a bigger love triangle.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Has anyone written short stories here then expanded them to novel length? How did you find it? Did you try and publish it here or elsewhere?

I'm thinking about expanding my incest series into a full novel, where the incest plot becomes part of a bigger love triangle.

A series could be considered a "novella" by some definitions. It's rather arbitrary, but I've seen this definition:

"Among awards, a range between 17,500 and 40,000 words is commonly used for the novella category, whereas 7,500–17,500 is commonly used for novelettes. According to The Writer, a novelette is approximately between 7,000 and 20,000 words in length, anything shorter being considered a short story." That's one way to look at it. Personally, I probably couldn't write a true novel. I thought I was doing that before I joined Lit, but I would up breaking it (rather messily) into smaller parts. For some series, I have added stand-alone stories that may go beyond the end of an existing work or inserted them into the middle somewhere. I wouldn't call the results a novel.

But give it a try if you wish and see how it goes.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Been there done that. The real challenge of expanding a short story concept into the plot for a full length novel. A short is usually a snapshot in time, you have little room for background, development, story arcs, and character development. It's all so succinct and tight and you have to do with with as few words as possible. A novel gives you far more scope but its also way more challenging. You need a story line that holds the reader, you need multiples scenes, story arcs, character arcs, a start and a finish that satisfies the reader..... it challenges you but at the same time its very rewarding.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I have combined two novellas into a larger novel. It wasn't my intention when I wrote either, but I saw the opportunity to easily bring the two together when they were both complete and it has worked out well.

I have also combined three related incest stories (30K, 58K, and 39K) into a larger 128K three-part novel and market that on other sites.

 

[Winter_Fare]

Has anyone written short stories here then expanded them to novel length? How did you find it? Did you try and publish it here or elsewhere?

I'm thinking about expanding my incest series into a full novel, where the incest plot becomes part of a bigger love triangle.

Yes, Debtors Kiss was a one off to let off steam and it spawned an unexpected six chapter series which totally derailed what I'd planned to write last year. I found it a lot of fun, especially the research around it as it was a semi historical setting. Published it on here, no plan to sell anything x

 

[MillieDynamite]

Short story to Novella, both Written in Blood and The Case of the Richman's Wife started as short stories. But before I published them, I started expanding and they blossomed.

 

[KeithD]

I have folded short stories into a later marketplace novel. Thus, sr71plt's "The Photograph" was folded into sr71plt's "Wolf Creek" when I published that as a novel to the marketplace.

I don't think I've taken a short story to novel, though. I think all of my novels were fully envisioned as at least novella length when I started writing them.