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Nov 24

How Long Should Your Novel Be?

Posted on Tuesday, November 24, 2015 in Writing links

Every writer, at some point in time, is bound to ask themselves: How long should a book be?

As a novelist you want to make sure the length is right. Too short and your readers will be severely disappointed. Too long and you risk boring them.

In order to help you find the right length for your novel, consider the following questions.

Read more here.

Nov 26

The Novel Was THIS BIG — How to write a novel workshop

Posted on Wednesday, November 26, 2014 in Writing links

There are entire books devoted to writing a “big” novel, including books with names like “How to write a blockbuster novel.” This is not one of those books in post form.

Why is it not?

Read more here.

Dec 30

Choosing A Time Period For Your Historical Novel, by Adrian Goldsworthy | Writing Historical Novels

Posted on Monday, December 30, 2013 in Writing links

Read more here.

Aug 22

7 Deadly Sins of Novel Writing

Posted on Thursday, August 22, 2013 in Writing links

Read about them here.

Jul 29

Quote by Jane Austen

Posted on Monday, July 29, 2013 in Humanities

The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.

~ Jane Austen

Dec 30

Finished an original story

Posted on Tuesday, December 30, 2008 in Writing

I finally managed to finish an original story. If I could only write every day (or rather night) I’d feel a lot better. I only wish I’d get round to finishing my novel. Why is it so hard? I suppose I’m afraid I’ll ruin what I’ve already written. All I need is a sort of start. A couple of sentences to set the right mood. Usually I manage to think of something much sooner. I’m afraid that if I don’t get it finished soon, it will never happen. It’s just going to be pointless.

Sep 3

Original stories

Posted on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 in Writing

I still haven’t worked on my novel, but I did get ideas for two original stories. At first I thought I was going to be able to start writing right away, the same night. The night, after all, is my favorite time for writing.

But no such luck. Still, I have worked out most of the things that will go into the stories. Plot, characters etc. I guess I just have cold feet. After writing a couple of stories I’ve been happy with, I’m afraid of making a mess of these.

The same is true for my novel, but even more so.

Oh, well. Writing is fun, but reading is necessary too. Fortunately, I have a couple of books I can read.

Dec 8

How long is a short story?

Posted on Saturday, December 8, 2007 in Writing

If you want to get your story published in a magazine or ezine there’s usually an upper limit for how long the story can be. It’s understandable, but personally, I can’t write stories that short. How can you develop the characters or the plot in just 1000-3000 words (or even less)?

What do you think? Do you prefer short short stories that are getting more and more popular these days, or do you agree with me that a story needs to be a little longer to qualify as a story?

Starting with novels, I’ve always heard that they’re supposed to consist of 70000 words and more, and a novella (or a novel for kids) needs to be at least 30000 words long. That has to mean that anything less would be a short story. Maybe it’s time to have more levels. For instance short short story, short story and long story (or possibly, though this sounds illogical, a long short story). Why not? I’d be interested to know what you guys think.

Jan 29

About being published or rather not being published

Posted on Monday, January 29, 2007 in Writing

I’ve been thinking a bit about being published by a publisher. At the moment that seems to be completely impossible. For me anyway, and for many people like me, who don’t write what’s considered ‘interesting’ right now. And I’m not an immigrant either, which is one criteria publishers go by here in Sweden. Don’t get me wrong. I love reading books by so called ‘immigrants’, though I’m not in the habit of categorizing people according to their country of origin. In any case, I also like to read other things. For me, what’s important is what the book is about, not where the author is from.

Another problem I have is that I write either too long stories, if I wanted to define them as ‘short stories’, or too short if I wanted to define them as novels. I really can’t write anything much shorter than 7000 – 10 000 words. Less wouldn’t be enough to develop plot and characters. It’s just not in me.

On the other hand, I might be able to write a little longer than the novellas/novels for kids that I usually write. In other words, I might be able to write about 70 000. But not that much more. I think I’m a person who writes succinctly, strangely enough, considering the fact that I can’t write what’s defined as ‘short stories’. But that’s probably because I can’t cut the plot short, not that I write lengthy sentences.

For a while, all this was quite depressing, not being able to have a book published by a publisher. Then I realized that it also means I’m free to write what I want. No one will tell me what’s ‘usable’, ‘interesting’, or ‘the current trend’, or whatever those editors say. When they’re not sending out a standard letter, which says loud and clear that they never read my book. They just left it lying around for a while, before returning it to me, if that’s what they do. I’d really appreciate it if they’d left a message on their home pages that they’re not currently receiving scripts from previously unpublished authors. That would be much better than letting you believe they’re actually interested in new scripts, when in fact they’re not. Unless it’s from someone who’s already famous for something.

Perhaps I should sign up for one of those so called ‘reality series’. If I flashed my hmm ‘assets’ I’d become famous and then maybe I’d be published. No, that’s not really my thing, actually. Besides, that’s probably very 90’s, becoming a celebrity just for flashing my ‘assets’. Nowadays, you need to have sex on camera, preferably with someone of the same sex. Shoot. That tore it.

No, I’ll have to find some other way of being published. Perhaps I could publish it myself, then market and sell it on my own. That probably won’t work very well, but what a rush it would be, seeing my own creation as a book. Even if I have to pay for it myself.

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