Plotting Novellas

[X Equestris]

Recently, I came across a very intriguing call for novella submissions, and as I rolled around ideas for one, I consistently ran into the same issue: there’s a very delicate balance between an idea with enough complexity to become a novella and one at risk of crossing into short novel territory.

Now, part of my problem is this specific call for submissions wants novellas on the shorter side (15-25k), but it isn’t the first time I’ve noticed this conundrum. With the sole novella I’ve written, I didn’t set out to write a novella. It was a case of “This story will be as long as this story needs to be” and it ultimately landed around 21,000 words. When I aimed to outline one a few years back, it soon became clear I might actually be dealing with a novel.

So this thread is aimed at those of you who set out to write a novella and did: how do you design plots with a satisfying amount of conflict, natural pacing, appreciable depth to the characters, etc. suitable for novellas? What’s worked for you? What didn’t? Are there any specific structures, templates, or craft books you’ve found useful?

I’m especially interested to hear from anyone who’s written romance novellas, because that’s what this call for subs is for, and believable romantic development strikes me as something very difficult to pull off without turning it into a novel.

 

[Naomasa298]

So this thread is aimed at those of you who set out to write a novella and did: how do you design plots with a satisfying amount of conflict, natural pacing, appreciable depth to the characters, etc. suitable for novellas? What’s worked for you? What didn’t? Are there any specific structures, templates, or craft books you’ve found useful?

I don't know if I can say anything useful, but I have plotted some stories that, had I written them as originally planned, would have gone into novella length. Instead, what I had to do was heavily cut to get them down to short story length, and even then, they were heading to the upper end. But that was a consequence of plot complexity rather than pacing, I'm not sure if that's the issue you are facing.

The few romance stories I've written are designed around the short story format. I'm writing two at the moment, and I've done the same thing to both - dump all the non-romantic bits, because the romance was all I was really interested in anyway.

 

[DLC]

Off the top of my head, I'd say most novellas cut down on the world-building more than anything. You could use some novel - length thing that ran out of steam and chop it into one.

 

[X Equestris]

But that was a consequence of plot complexity rather than pacing, I'm not sure if that's the issue you are facing.

I’d say plot complexity is definitely bundled in there. The ideas I’ve been entertaining for this specific call are straightforward. Just the core romance and the external conflict that serves as adhesion. Small and focused in scope. Even so, I can’t help but feel they’re going to push the bounds of that upper limit.

The few romance stories I've written are designed around the short story format. I'm writing two at the moment, and I've done the same thing to both - dump all the non-romantic bits, because the romance was all I was really interested in anyway.

Yeah, with romance short fiction, I don’t think there’s room for anything but the bare minimum in non-romance elements. I’ve written two; they had just enough worldbuilding to be coherent as fantasy romances, no conflict at all that wasn’t tied to the romance, and I’m still not sure they would’ve worked as stories if they weren’t erotic romance.

Novelettes and novellas give you a little more room to breathe. A few years back, I wrote a superhero romantic suspense novelette, and it worked out well. Published in an anthology and everything. Still, looking back on it, I think the romance would benefit from more room to breathe. Someday, I’d love to expand it into a full novel.

I guess you could say I’m trying to avoid a repeat there.

 

[Banespawn]

I haven't written one, so take this with a grain of salt, but I'd suggest building out the non-romance parts of the story and then having the romance happen along the way. Think about what goals these characters have outside of the romance and think about how you can structure/pace the story based on those goals.

For example, let's say they both work at the same company. It's a big company, and they haven't met before, but now they are both up for the same promotion. The boss puts them both on a new project that he is leading, so he can observe them both in action and then make a decision on who gets the promotion. Now you've got a structure, and you can weave the romance in as part of it. The ending can be whatever you want. One bows out and the other gets the promotion. They both bow out and start their own company. Neither or both get the promoted.

The things they do as part of the project gives you moments where you can show their relationship developing. Maybe at first, they are both pretty cutthroat. Maybe they do small things to make each other look bad. But as they get to know each other, they regret those things and eventually get to a point where they are genuinely conflicted, to the point where they aren't even sure they want the promotion anymore.

That's just one sample idea. The external goal can be whatever you want, in any genre, but you need something external to provide the scaffolding for the story you want to tell.

 

[Homer Potvin]

So this thread is aimed at those of you who set out to write a novella and did: how do you design plots with a satisfying amount of conflict, natural pacing, appreciable depth to the characters, etc. suitable for novellas? What’s worked for you? What didn’t? Are there any specific structures, templates, or craft books you’ve found useful?

I've never tried it, but I'm picturing something akin to a mile run like we used to do in high school. It wasn't the hundred yard dash, it wasn't a marathon or a 5K, it was right in the middle there. Run fast but not too fast. Save you breath but not all of your breath. Pick a pace that is adequately brisk yet sustainable enough to get you there in a timely fashion. I suppose with writing you can do all the novel things but in a more limited scope. Or all the short story things with a bit more expansion. I mean, you can build a complex world in three paragraphs spread interspersed in the few pages with some contextual glue between them. You can develop a character in a few active sentences that adequately summarize a passive scene (what I call "declarative summary"). Tone, imagery, and all the festoonery happen on their own, so that shouldn't be an issue. I guess that would leave plot as the stretchable variable.

Hmmm. If I were to plan it out, I think I'd start with the idea, whatever it is, independent of word count and decide whether it was a small idea that needed expansion or a big idea that needed contraction. Kind of go from there. More narrative summary if you need to contract, more action if you need to stretch. Not sure how helpful any of that was....

 

[X Equestris]

I haven't written one, so take this with a grain of salt, but I'd suggest building out the non-romance parts of the story and then having the romance happen along the way

Yeah, that’s been my plan so far: use the core conflict to stick the main characters to each other and harness their efforts to deal with it to bring them closer and closer. Though it’s a lot to fit into no more than 25k words.

I suppose certain tropes or premises may lend themselves to the short novella format better than others. Friends to lovers, second-chance romance, anything that gives them some history and a foundation to build on. The novelette I mentioned was a second-chance romance, so those might be worth revisiting.

If I were to plan it out, I think I'd start with the idea, whatever it is, independent of word count and decide whether it was a small idea that needed expansion or a big idea that needed contraction. Kind of go from there. More narrative summary if you need to contract, more action if you need to stretch. Not sure how helpful any of that was....

Very helpful, actually! I like the framing of small ideas in need of expansion or big ones in need of contraction. My instinct is to build ideas around the right size from the start, so sometimes I need a reminder that isn’t strictly necessary.

My usual approach would probably work better if the 25-50k range were available for this specific call. 15-25k sits in the awkward borderland of long novelette/short novella, and I have to wonder if the difficulty of doing them well may account for why there aren’t a lot of traditional markets for them.

 

[Stuart Dren]

Huh. I don't know if I've ever run across a craft book about novellas in particular.

I've written one short novella, now possibly lost to time. It was pretty bad, though it did end up at my intended length. It followed a girl who's job it was to counteract random physical changes brought on by FTL interdimensional travel for a space-liner. The inciting incident was a spring failure leading to most of the staff dying to a catastrophic cascade that stranded the ship in a fractured dimensional limbo. It happened in, oh, the first five paragraphs? Four characters. The primary stakes were the lives of the unwitting hundreds of passengers, and the MC getting home to her parrot (her only companionship after a messy breakup).

Themes were primarily about accepting/resisting change holy shit I swear I'm more subtle these days (for example, the MC tells everyone she's 29. It's even in the narrative that she's "29"). and secondarily about humanity's capacity for failure being outmatched by its capacity for recovery given she overcomes her dejectedness from the breakup, and manages to save the space liner in a seemingly doomed situation. Anyways, getting nav back online meant completing three tasks. One of the four characters was a traitor. Honestly, the format wasn't the most original (rule of three, betrayal) but I think the pacing was one thing I got right.

Going by memory,
1. Disaster early first scene. 1 of 4 characters died (Haha 25% of the cast, gone).
2. Introduced two characters + came up with a tentative plan in the second scene.
3. Raised stakes by learning more about the cast. Complete first task at some peril (I don't remember what that was).
4. Raised stakes again via revealing the passengers were alive and in fact unaware of the disaster.
5. Completed second task, but was betrayed at the end, leading to one character (blooming love interest) having to sacrifice himself.
6. Completed the third task, which pitted the now lone protagonist directly against the more prepared, experienced traitor.
7. Denouement. Protagonist RTFMs a way to save the love interest we though had sacrificed himself. Hugs in EVA suits. Admits she's past 29. The end.

If I had to pull anything universal from that, I'd say the elements were light: micro cast, relatively simple plot, and even a short timescale, though a long timescale would be doable too with summary.

 

[Brandon S. Pilcher]

I actually have an easier time writing novellas than full-length novels. I don't know if that's because of the way I write, or if it's because my story premises don't require a whole novel. Maybe my attention span is just too short.