VoyForums

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: [1], 2 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 10:45:26 07/28/02 Sun
Author: Barb
Subject: Re: The Bookmarks Reorganisation Thread
In reply to: DeepaD 's message, "The Bookmarks Reorganisation Thread" on 10:09:44 07/28/02 Sun


>I was thinking, Vignette - below 1,000 words, Story -
>between 1,001-6,000, Novel - 6,000 - 11,000, and
>beyond that, series...
>anyway let me know opinions!
>
>Deepa D.

I want to put in a plug for the novella, the red-headed stepchild of fiction. I snagged these off a couple of random writers' guide sites--

Vignette: 1,000 words
Short Story: 1,000 - 7,500 words
Novellette: 7,500 - 20,000 words
Novella: 20,000 - 50,000 words
Novel: 50,000 -100,000
Epics and Series: Over 110,000 words

Novel: 45,000 words to about 150,000 words.
Novella/Novelette: 7,000 - 40,000 words. These terms are often used somewhat interchangeably, although novellas tend to be longer, and novelettes shorter.
Short Story: 2,000 - 7,500 words.
Short Short: 2,000 words.
Vignette: under 1000, 500, or even 99 words, depending on the market or guidelines.

Obviously the exact word count where a novella becomes a novel is flexible, and maybe using the novella category would make it too complicated, but even 40,000 words just doesn't seem very novel-y to me, and calling 6,001 words a novel is Right Out. Save the novella!

Barb

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Re: The Bookmarks Reorganisation Thread -- Robert, 11:16:07 07/28/02 Sun

Sounds like a good idea.

There are some series of vignettes, so I wouldn't put
series in their own category. What matters is the overall
length.

For comparison, paperbacks have roughly 250 words per page.
A slim 200 page novel will be about 50K words, while the
largest single volume works are about 1200 pages, 300K.

6000 words is 24 pages, barely a chapter.

I'd say split them
Vignettes - Under 1000 words.
Short stories - 1K to 20K words.
Novellas - 20K to 50K
Novels - 50K and up

However the best thing to do might be to see how many
stories are each length, then split at the round numbers
that make each category closest to a quarter.


[ Edit | View ]


[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.