What is a Novella? The Power of the Short Novel

Many famous authors have written novellas—but what exactly defines a novella?

If you’ve gone over your word count in what was supposed to be a short story, or your novel idea seems complete even though it’s significantly under 90,000 words, you might just be writing a novella.

But a novella is defined by more than just its word count.

In today’s blog, writing coach Tara Conklin is here to shed light on this powerful and enduring form of short fiction, why it works, and the steps you can take to write a novella of your own. At the end of the article, she also shares a fantastic list of recommended contemporary and classic reads, so you can enjoy and appreciate the form regardless of whether you decide it’s right for your story.

Let’s find out why the novella sits apart from the standard novel and  the short story collection...

For many writers, completing a long-form novel is the ultimate dream. But writing 70,000–100,000 words is no small feat. It can take years, countless drafts, experimentation, and an incredibly steep learning curve. 

If you’re struggling to find the word count (and the time) to complete your novel, you may consider writing a novella instead. The form requires fewer words and a sharper narrative focus, which can make the endeavor more manageable. But it’s important to remember that whether you’re writing a novel or a novella, the most essential ingredients remain the same: a great story, told in your own unique voice.

What is a novella? Is it a short story?

The definition of a novella typically starts with its word count, and while an exact bracket varies depending on where you look, novellas tend to have an average length of between 20,000 to 50,000 words, with 10,000 words usually considered as the minimum length. Essentially, they fall into the space between a short story and a novel.

Although often considered the novel’s younger sister, novellas are just as old and may even predate the modern novel. The Italian literature classic The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, a fifteenth-century collection of connected short stories set against the backdrop of the Black Death, is widely considered to be the first novella.

In addition to word range, a novella is defined by its focused narrative scope, which hits a middle ground between the lightning rod of the short story and the long, leisurely burn of the novel. Consider a novella the book equivalent of a campfire—a place that invites you in for a good yarn but where the flames remain contained and won’t last all night.

Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres, describes a novella’s scope as being focused on emotion and exclusive of the wider world. 

They’re like a play or a movie—you can follow one character or small set of characters... without shifting focus to the larger world around them.
—Jane Smiley

Ian McEwan, whose 2019 novella The Cockroach is a political satire that echoes the themes of Kafka’s famous novella The Metamorphosis, describes a novella similarly. In a 2012 essay for the New Yorker, he wrote:

[A novella] is long enough for a reader to inhabit a world or a consciousness and be kept there, short enough to be read in a sitting or two and for the whole structure to be held in mind at first encounter.
—Ian McEwan 

Examples of the novella abound in classic literature. Chances are, you probably read at least one of these in school:

• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
• Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea

Contemporary writers have also embraced the form. Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These, published in 2021, clocks in at a slim 29,500 words. The novella was chosen for Oprah’s Book Club, made into an award-winning movie, and became an international bestseller.

Ian McEwan calls the novella ‘the perfect form of prose fiction,’ and while most often associated with literary fiction, genre writers have also fallen for the novella.

Stephen King, the undisputed master of horror, often publishes in the novella form. It was his 1982 novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, that was made into the classic movie The Shawshank Redemption. Some of his other novellas (also turned into movies, coincidentally) include The Body (as Stand By Me, 1986), The Langoliers (1995), Apt Pupil (1998), The Mist (2007), and The Life of Chuck (2024).

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The World Science Fiction Society’s Hugo Awards gives a prize annually for the Best Novella for works between 17,500 and 40,000 words. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) also grants a Nebula Award to the best novella published in the U.S.

Today’s genre writers of romantasy, fantasy, romance, horror, and more are bringing new life to the novella. Whether dubbed a ‘short novel’ or a ‘short story’ (you’ll find these closely related in search results), novella-length books are finding a significant audience through digital-first publishing and self-publishing. Readers want stories that fit into their busy lives, their pockets—and their shorter attention spans!

Consider a novella the book equivalent of a campfire—a place that invites you in for a good yarn but where the flames remain contained and won’t last all night.
—Tara Conklin

How to write a novella

So, what does it take to write a novella? Is it really all that different (i.e., easier) than writing a novel? 

First off, the shorter word count certainly suggests that a novella is easier and faster to complete than a long-form novel—like running a 5K versus running a marathon. For beginner writers, this factor alone may make it an attractive option.

As Stephen King writes in the excellent On Writing:

The novel is a quagmire that a lot of younger writers stumble into before they’re ready to go there.
—Stephen King

If you’re considering taking the leap into novella writing, here are some practical considerations to keep in mind.

1. Character focus

Novellas tend to focus on one central conflict involving the protagonist, with fewer subplots (or none at all). While novels can accommodate expansive plots, multiple points of view, and separate timelines in their fictional narrative, novellas tend to narrow in on one focused question or problem in a character’s life.

In Small Things Like These, for example, the central conflict revolves around the protagonist Bill Furlong’s discovery of a teenage girl locked in a coal shed at a Catholic home for unwed mothers in small-town Ireland. The question driving the plot is: Will Furlong help the girl or keep quiet?

The story belongs to Furlong and his moral dilemma. The reader learns about Furlong’s birth and upbringing, his professional life and family, but only as they pertain to his decision about the girl. Keegan introduces secondary characters, including Furlong’s wife, his daughters, his deceased mother, and a groundskeeper from his childhood, but they appear only to explain what’s at stake for Furlong.

2. Narrative focus

Language in a novella is precise and carefully crafted. In a long-form novel, there’s room for digression, backstory, and broad exposition. Not so with the novella. With a reduced word count, every sentence must pull its weight. For the writer, this means more time spent in revision and the ruthless killing of your darlings.

Returning to Clare Keegan, every line adds essential information to the story of Furlong’s moral dilemma. With sharply chiseled prose, she leads the reader through the days leading up to and following his discovery of the girl, all of it pointing us toward his final decision.

With a reduced word count, every sentence [in a novella] must pull its weight.
—Tara Conklin

3. Style, experimentation, and commentary

Symbolism and experimentation often find a place in the novella. Writers use the shorter, more condensed form to explore experimental voices and techniques that might be difficult to sustain over the long course of a novel.

For example, in the novella Dept. of Speculation, Jenny Offill mixes short, seemingly disconnected lines referencing everything from parenting guides to Ovidian poetry to tell the story of a failing marriage. The resulting book is innovative and entirely unique.

In The Buddha in the Attic, Julie Otsuka uses a first-person plural point of view—we—to tell the story of Japanese-American ‘picture brides’ who travel from Japan to America and are ultimately sent to internment camps during World War II. The ‘we’ removes the reader’s connection with a single protagonist and was a risky choice for Otsuka, but it worked over the course of the book’s roughly 35,000-word length.

As seen in classic novellas like Brave New World, Animal Farm, and The Metamorphosis, the form also lends itself well to allegory and political commentary. Heavy symbolism that may seem forced (or worse, boring) in a full-length novel often takes on resonance and meaning in a novella.

These older works were written in times of political turmoil and they challenged the powers that be, all receiving appearances on banned book lists. Perhaps it’s time to revisit the allegorical novella—not as something old-fashioned, but revolutionary and new.

Heavy symbolism that may seem forced (or worse, boring) in a full-length novel often takes on resonance and meaning in a novella.
—Tara Conklin

4. Timeframes and word counts

Novellas often (but not always) take place over a condensed timeframe. A shorter scope of time goes along with the shorter word count and a more focused plot.

One of the many joys of the novel is its ability to span years, generations, and eras, and although plenty of novellas do cover longer periods of time (Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, for example, which has recently received a Netflix adaptation), a condensed period may be helpful for writers learning the form. James Joyce’s The Dead  takes place over one evening, and Small Things Like These condenses its action into the week of Christmas.   

How do publishers view the novella as a work of fiction?

Traditional publishers (aka ‘the Big Five’) have historically shied away from novellas unless they’re written by an already established author. A debut novella isn’t seen as a good financial bet because the costs of production are still high, but readers expect the lower page count to come at a smaller sticker price.

However, the good news is that in today’s publishing world, plenty of alternatives exist. 

Smaller presses in both the U.S. and the U.K. regularly publish novellas. Some examples include:

• ‍Red Hen Press
• ‍Stalking Horse Press
• ‍Fairlight Books
• ‍Harvard Square Editions
• ‍Galileo Press‍

(Editor Sadé Omeje’s detailed blog on literary fiction dives more deeply into the advantages offered by small presses.) The submission process will be different for each, but most allow submissions directly from writers without agent representation.

Some literary journals and magazines also publish novellas, either serialized or in full. Alaska Quarterly Review, McSweeney’s, and the North American Review are some examples, but online searches will yield dozens more.

And, of course, self-publishing remains an increasingly popular option for writers in all genres. In fact, more and more traditionally published authors are turning to self-publishing for shorter, more experimental fiction.

Amazon, love it or hate it, has helped drive this trend with its Kindle Short Reads program. At the time of writing, a search for novella-length works turned up more than 50,000 available titles. The selection covers multiple genres, from historical fiction to dark fantasy, and includes novellas by well-established authors such as Fredrik Backman, Freida McFadden, Sally Hepworth, Michael Connelly, Elin Hilderbrand, and more.

Should I write a novella?

As with most questions in the writing life, the answer is: it depends!

Despite their shorter word count, novellas are not necessarily ‘easier’ to write than a long-form novel. They still require a great idea, attention to character and plot, clear writing, and personal dedication to complete and publish. 

If you’re thinking about writing a novella, it’s important to first read widely in that form. Take some time to become familiar with novella-length works in your genre and dip into other short-form fiction falling outside your genre. Then, ask yourself these questions to ascertain whether you should (or could) write a novella:

• Am I struggling to meet the minimum word count for a published novel (anywhere from 60,000–100,000 words, or longer for some genres of fiction)?
• Do I find joy in a more condensed story? 
• Does my idea involve one central conflict, one protagonist, and/or a condensed timeframe?
• Is traditional publishing not a priority for me? Am I comfortable publishing with a small press or self-publishing? 
• Do I want to hone my storytelling skills in a shorter form before tackling a full-length novel? 

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then it might be time to consider writing a novella.

Great novellas: a recommended reading list

Contemporary

• Foster by Claire Keegan
• We the Animals by Justin Torres
• Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (you might also like to read our analysis of this novella)
• Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King
• Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
• On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
• The Age of Grief  by Jane Smiley
• The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami
• City of Glass by Paul Auster (together with Ghosts and The Locked Room, the other two novellas included in The New York Trilogy)
• This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
• Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
• The Dying Animal  by Philip Roth
• Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
• Every Day is for the Thief  by Teju Cole

Classic

• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
• The Lover by Marguerite Duras
• Chronicle of a Death Foretold  by Gabriel García Márquez
• The Pearl  by John Steinbeck
• The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy
• Bartleby the Scrivener  by Herman Melville
• The Stranger  by Albert Camus
• The Turn of the Screw  by Henry James
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• The Awakening by Kate Chopin
• The Dead by James Joyce
• Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
• Up at the Villa by W. Somerset Maugham
• Pale Horse, Pale Rider  by Katherine Anne Porter

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