Guest Post: Carolyn Crane

The secret life of novellas: 5 awesome things

Hey, thanks so much for having me here, and congrats on your 1000+ celebration! **throws confetti**

So much is changing in the world of books right now—especially the whole move to digital and new publishing options for authors—and all those changes are having interesting side effects.

One of those side effects is the rise of the novella. I don’t have numbers or anything, but I know if I’d had my trilogy out ten years ago, I probably wouldn't be writing spin-off novellas for it. Mostly because publishers weren't buying and printing them. But today, I can put them up on Amazon or give them out free, and I’m into it!

What’s so great about novellas?

Novellas allow writers to take risks


A novel takes me months and months, often a year to write. It’s a massive time investment and in some cases, a publishing company has invested in it and all that. It’s not a place to go crazy, but in a novella, I can try something new, or write about a very extreme character. Or create a weird storyline that I could never base a series on. Taking risks and trying new things results in more interesting and diverse work being put out.

Novellas allow readers to take risks

Anthologies of short stories and novellas are awesome because they let me try out an author’s work. I know you can get sample chapters of novels, but it’s not the same, really, than a complete story. I've discovered lots of authors in this way.

Novellas help deepen story worlds

I enjoy reading spin-off novellas from series I enjoy because it shows me new things about those worlds. And, I would bet my entire bank account that writing them shows the authors new things about the world, too.

Novellas lead to richer side characters

I love when I read a novella based in a series world I know, how it deepens minor characters. For my Simon novella, I had to work out all sorts of things about him and why he acts as he does instead of the vague way I had it in the main novels. Now, whatever I do with him in the future, he’s more than three-dimensional—he’s larger than life!

No pressure!

When I write novels, I have this feeling that I’d better make it good, or people will stop reading my stuff. Don’t get me wrong—I love writing novels - it’s my main passion, but it’s just more high stakes. With a novella, the pressure’s off! So I can play and have fun. And hopefully, the reader has fun, too.

So, that’s my thinking on novellas. Do you read novellas? Have you ever gotten interested in an author from a short story or novella?

How to get my next novella for FREE: My stand-alone novella about the character Simon comes out in early March, but my newsletter readers will be able to download it for free during the week before! Sign up here! (and, if you hate the newsletter, you can just unsubscribe after, I don’t mind!)

Hey, 1000+ books, congrats again on the big 1-0-0-0!

Carolyn Crane

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