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‘Animal Farm’ Had 29,996 Words
The rise of the novella, and how writing one can make a huge difference in your writing career…
Whenever people talk about writing, it’s usually concerning one or two forms: the short story, and the novel. However, there’s another form, called a novella, that’s slowly making a rise in modern literature.
Some examples of famous novellas are Animal Farm (29,996 words), Slaughterhouse-Five (47,192 words), Fahrenheit 451 (46, 118 words), The Old Man and the Sea (27,000 words), Heart Of Darkness (35, 525 words), The Shawshank Redemption (38,000 words), Coraline (30, 826 words) and the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (41, 325 words).
Definitively, a novella is a form of writing that is too long to be a short story, but too short to be a novel. They usually have about 20,000 to 50,000 words, and typically run to about a hundred pages.
So why should you write a novella?
They’re Short (Win-Win For Author And Reader)
When you write a novel, which is 50,000 words or more, you usually need to stretch it out more, especially with the infamous sagging middle, where it feels like every word is a hurdle and that you’ll pass out before you reach the finish line.
But with a novella, you can realistically pump one out within a month or so. Also, from a reader’s perspective, they’re great to read if you have nothing to read and have a couple of hours. They can read it in one sitting, which helps readers dive into the world longer and more consistently. Says Robin Storey:
“Nowadays books also have to compete with the online world for attention — games, social media, forums, movie and TV streaming. So a short book is more likely to catch the attention of people who live in the online world, knowing they can read one in the same time it takes to watch a movie.”
They’re Fun To Write
Novellas are super fun to write. For one, you don’t need to worry about reaching a specific word count, because if it ends up being too long, then you can just call it in a novel, and if it’s a little too short, a short story. There’s really no limit here.
