RELEASE WEEK POST 1
MY, WHAT A NOVEL-LA IDEA
I’ve explained that I decided to write a novella as part of an anthology call for royal novellas. Before that, I’d never even considered writing a novella—I’ve read some, but not many, and I’m definitely far too wordy a writer to pack an entire story into half the space I’d normally use. But seeing the call sparked an idea, something that shaped itself into “Bad Princess,” and had the unexpected effect of convincing me that not only could I write a novella, I could write it quickly, because it was short!
Ha!
Ha!
Ha.
So, I did write it fairly quickly, but that’s mostly because it was one of those blessed occasions where the story just flowed. It definitely wasn’t any easier than writing a full-length story, because you still have to make sure you have a solid structure and an interesting plot and unique characters and sizzling chemistry and believable dialogue and all the things that make a book, regardless of length, worth reading.
When the anthology didn’t go ahead as planned, I knew I loved this story and wanted to publish it regardless. And for a brief moment, I considered beefing it up a bit, adding more scenes, more chapters, more words—my favourite—and making it a bit more substantial than a novella. But here’s the thing: I wrote a novella. Not a book that was missing pieces, but a complete story, in 40,000 words.
I thought maybe I could add the wedding scene, but I really didn’t want to. Or insert a chapter before they’re caught kissing—but that would be filler. Or I could change to a more omniscient POV and show other characters’ thoughts and activities, but that would just be different angles on the same plot points, not new information. Or maybe I could create an entire subplot to generate another 30,000 words—but…but I didn’t need to. I’d told a story, and the word count was right for it, so I left it as it was.
Sometimes it’s hard to know what to write, and other times it’s hard to determine what *not* to write. It’s always a balancing act, and whether or not you strike the right balance is entirely subjective. This post is meant to give you the overall perspective I had while writing the novella, and a couple of the posts coming later in the week will discuss some of those decisions in more detail. Until then, thanks for reading! 😘
BUY LINKS:
AZ https://goo.gl/DCq6Rm
BN https://goo.gl/AzWSeg
iBooks https://goo.gl/fxx7yC
Kobo https://goo.gl/xpxVH4
I’ve explained that I decided to write a novella as part of an anthology call for royal novellas. Before that, I’d never even considered writing a novella—I’ve read some, but not many, and I’m definitely far too wordy a writer to pack an entire story into half the space I’d normally use. But seeing the call sparked an idea, something that shaped itself into “Bad Princess,” and had the unexpected effect of convincing me that not only could I write a novella, I could write it quickly, because it was short!
Ha!
Ha!
Ha.
So, I did write it fairly quickly, but that’s mostly because it was one of those blessed occasions where the story just flowed. It definitely wasn’t any easier than writing a full-length story, because you still have to make sure you have a solid structure and an interesting plot and unique characters and sizzling chemistry and believable dialogue and all the things that make a book, regardless of length, worth reading.
When the anthology didn’t go ahead as planned, I knew I loved this story and wanted to publish it regardless. And for a brief moment, I considered beefing it up a bit, adding more scenes, more chapters, more words—my favourite—and making it a bit more substantial than a novella. But here’s the thing: I wrote a novella. Not a book that was missing pieces, but a complete story, in 40,000 words.
I thought maybe I could add the wedding scene, but I really didn’t want to. Or insert a chapter before they’re caught kissing—but that would be filler. Or I could change to a more omniscient POV and show other characters’ thoughts and activities, but that would just be different angles on the same plot points, not new information. Or maybe I could create an entire subplot to generate another 30,000 words—but…but I didn’t need to. I’d told a story, and the word count was right for it, so I left it as it was.
Sometimes it’s hard to know what to write, and other times it’s hard to determine what *not* to write. It’s always a balancing act, and whether or not you strike the right balance is entirely subjective. This post is meant to give you the overall perspective I had while writing the novella, and a couple of the posts coming later in the week will discuss some of those decisions in more detail. Until then, thanks for reading! 😘
BUY LINKS:
AZ https://goo.gl/DCq6Rm
BN https://goo.gl/AzWSeg
iBooks https://goo.gl/fxx7yC
Kobo https://goo.gl/xpxVH4
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