Novels vs Novellas?

[Chime85]

Today I have been jotting down a few notes for a few short stories, some note are ok, some are.....weird. Anyway, it got me thinking about novellas, what exactly are they? I am under the impression they are just small novels, but is that the only difference seperating the two? If so, why not call them, short novels? At what point in the word count does a novella turn to a novel? Do they have a different format from novels? Different styles?

Not sure if this should be in the writing section or the publishing forums. If I have misplaced this post, please put it where it should be

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[Steerpike]

These days it seems to come down to word count only, because that is easy. There is literary theory about the novella that focuses on structure, theme, and so on, arguing that a novella has certain characteristics in these regards, but if you ask most people they'll just give you a range of word count (which sometimes varies ).

 

[ShortHair]

It's a fairly arbitrary distinction. One source says novel lengths start at 40,000 words. That means I can write a story that's 39,999 words long and it's a novella, but if I add one word it's a novel. Others will tell you the break is at 70,000 words.

My own feeling is that, unless it matters to your publisher, the story takes as long as it takes. In other words, word counts are meaningless.

 

[Philip Overby]

I tend to think a novella is just shorter, but like Steerpike said, there are other distinctions. Not sure what they are.

I would say in the fantasy genre, it would be a hard sell to get a novella out there unless you're working with small presses or a magazine that wants to publish it (or you self-publish, obviously). Most of the major publishers tend to shy away from shorter fantasy works. There is still a propensity to publish big door-stopper, multi-volume series. Not that they're the only thing getting published, but I'd say in general there aren't many best-selling novellas floating around nowadays (that have been published recently anyway).