Novel/Novella Question

[lil_elvis]

Well I'm actually sitting here working on the story that won't go away. It's gotten very long (over 60 WORD pages/25,000 words) and still more to go.

So as I sit here trying to get it done, I've been wondering if there's any general idea around here of how long a story should be to be submitted into Novels/Novellas. Any ideas?

Yeah, I know no one will read it, but it's one of those things that demands completing and doesn't neatly fit other catgories.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I'm glad you asked this I'm doing the same thing and I was curious. I was also wondering if you have to have sexual content in this catagory?

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

I did one that was about 50,000 words long. It went into Novels and Novellas. I put another one in there that was alot shorter, so I don't think it matters how long it is.

 

[lil_elvis]

I'm glad you asked this I'm doing the same thing and I was curious. I was also wondering if you have to have sexual content in this catagory?

Do you always answer questions with questions?

Wait, I know better than that!

*awaiting abuse*

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Do you always answer questions with questions?

Wait, I know better than that!

*awaiting abuse*

Yes, why?

* I'll make you wait you little.....little....elvis you!*

 

[Weird Harold]

Well I'm actually sitting here working on the story that won't go away. It's gotten very long (over 60 WORD pages/25,000 words) and still more to go.

So as I sit here trying to get it done, I've been wondering if there's any general idea around here of how long a story should be to be submitted into Novels/Novellas. Any ideas?

Yeah, I know no one will read it, but it's one of those things that demands completing and doesn't neatly fit other catgories.

I'm glad you asked this I'm doing the same thing and I was curious. I was also wondering if you have to have sexual content in this catagory?

25,000 words is still a short story by conventional publishing standards but it's approaching 10 Lit pages. (actually somewhere around 7.2 Lit pages.) That's plenty long enough to fit Lit's idea of a "novella" yet still short enough to be acceptable in another category.

The Novels/Novellas category is for a) long stories AND b) stories that fit in more than one category. There is no requirement that a Novel/Novella have explicit sex, but the readers expect some sex -- although they also expect some plot and long stretches of action/adventure/romance/mystery as well. A lack of "sex in every chapter" won't hurt a novel/novella submission nearly as much as it would in other categories.

If your story is less than about ten lit pages (35,000-45,000 words) and fits a single category, it will probably do better as a serialization in the appropriate category. Anything that fits multiple categories AND/OR has more plot than sex AND is longer than about seven Lit pages (24,500 words) then you have candidate for the Novels/Novellas category.

If your story reaches 40,000 words, and doesn't fit a single category, then it's definitely a fit for N/N.

It's really more about the structure of the story than the actual length, IMHO. Novels and Novellas have more than sex and more than a long series of unconnected events -- they have plots that run through the entire story to a resolution.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

25,000 words is still a short story by conventional publishing standards but it's approaching 10 Lit pages. (actually somewhere around 7.2 Lit pages.) That's plenty long enough to fit Lit's idea of a "novella" yet still short enough to be acceptable in another category.

The Novels/Novellas category is for a) long stories AND b) stories that fit in more than one category. There is no requirement that a Novel/Novella have explicit sex, but the readers expect some sex -- although they also expect some plot and long stretches of action/adventure/romance/mystery as well. A lack of "sex in every chapter" won't hurt a novel/novella submission nearly as much as it would in other categories.

If your story is less than about ten lit pages (35,000-45,000 words) and fits a single category, it will probably do better as a serialization in the appropriate category. Anything that fits multiple categories AND/OR has more plot than sex AND is longer than about seven Lit pages (24,500 words) then you have candidate for the Novels/Novellas category.

If your story reaches 40,000 words, and doesn't fit a single category, then it's definitely a fit for N/N.

It's really more about the structure of the story than the actual length, IMHO. Novels and Novellas have more than sex and more than a long series of unconnected events -- they have plots that run through the entire story to a resolution.

Wow. You're not kidding when you say you've got lots of answers, are you?

Q_C

 

[Weird Harold]

Wow. You're not kidding when you say you've got lots of answers, are you?

Q_C

Some of them even fit the questions.

However, I should say that the above is just my opinion and observations rather than any official rule or guidleline.

 

[lil_elvis]

Thanks, WH.

You answered my question, plus some I hadn't thought of yet, but definitely needed to know. Looks like I'll serialize it in Novels/Novellas.

Now all I've gott to do is finish it.

 

[Weird Harold]

Looks like I'll serialize it in Novels/Novellas.

Now all I've gott to do is finish it.

That is one aspect of the Novels/Novellas category I forgot to mention -- it's for completed works, NOT "works in progress."

I have seen people serialize a work-in-progress and then have it moved to Novel/Novellas when complete, but that seems to bemore work than it's worth -- both for the author and for Literotica.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I intend to post my Nano work, The Furies, to novels & novellas. I was wondering though, I don't break it into chapters, will it still be acceptable?

 

[lil_elvis]

That is one aspect of the Novels/Novellas category I forgot to mention -- it's for completed works, NOT "works in progress."

I have seen people serialize a work-in-progress and then have it moved to Novel/Novellas when complete, but that seems to bemore work than it's worth -- both for the author and for Literotica.

I will not submit until it's complete. There was a thread on this not just a few days ago. I agreed with those who believed that submitting a serialized story before it was complete is dangerous, for a variety of reasons (I think you were in that group WH). My plan is to submit one part a day until it is fully posted.

 

[Weird Harold]

I intend to post my Nano work, The Furies, to novels & novellas. I was wondering though, I don't break it into chapters, will it still be acceptable?

Certainly.

That's really the type of posting the category was intended for, although keeping a serialization together, which would otherwise be scattered over a dozen different categories was a consideration as well.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Certainly.

That's really the type of posting the category was intended for, although keeping a serialization together, which would otherwise be scattered over a dozen different categories was a consideration as well.

thanks Wh

*HUGS*

 

[sweetnpetite]

I will not submit until it's complete. There was a thread on this not just a few days ago. I agreed with those who believed that submitting a serialized story before it was complete is dangerous, for a variety of reasons (I think you were in that group WH). My plan is to submit one part a day until it is fully posted.

I have some incomplete work submitted.

 

[sweetnpetite]

I intend to post my Nano work, The Furies, to novels & novellas. I was wondering though, I don't break it into chapters, will it still be acceptable?

I can't wait to read it.

Please let me know when it's up.

 

[elsol]

That is one aspect of the Novels/Novellas category I forgot to mention -- it's for completed works, NOT "works in progress."

Is this a hard rule?

I'd like to post a story that's broken out into complete books... I'd only post the books as they were finished (two of them are and the third is two chapters away).

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Belegon]

Yeah, I know no one will read it,

don't be sure of that Lil' Evil, errrrr, Elvis...

 

[Weird Harold]

Is this a hard rule?

I can't say positively whether Laurel enforces that or not.

Somewhere back in the depths of the sea of dead threads, there is a discussion about whether we needed a novels/novellas category or not, and that was one of the concerns raised because of the number of "xxxx Ch1" stories that never see a chapter two.

The consensus was that incomplete stories should be somewhere else until completed and only completed works would be considered for that category.

I'd like to post a story that's broken out into complete books... I'd only post the books as they were finished (two of them are and the third is two chapters away).

I don't see a problem with posting the completed books if they're actually "books" rather than extended chapters. That would be like publishing the first volume of a trilogy before the second and third books are complete in the print world. But the volumes of a trilogy are generally complete stand-alone novels in their own right with a beginning, middle and end.

Look at your first two books critically and ask yourself if they're really "books" or more like "Acts" in play. You might publish a book by itself, but you'd seldom perform only one act of a Play.