Novelette . . . Novella . . . ?

[ellenkushner]

So there you are: Staring at your Nebula (or Hugo or WFC) Nomination Ballot, and wondering, "What the hell is a novelette, anyway? And have I read any this year?  And, most importantly:  Have my friends written any that I should be nominating if I only knew their exact word length?"

I understand.  We've all been there.

And I am here to help.

On the Nebula Ballot, a novelette is defined as "a story of at least 7,500 words but less than 17,500 words." Such as, for instance (and I speak here only of stories that happened to have been published in 2011, making them eligible for a Nebula Nomination which can only be done by an Active member of SFWA and must be submitted before Feb. 15th),

* "The Duke of Riverside" by Ellen Kushner  (8,000 hard-won words, and my editor nearly killed me 'cause she wanted it SHORT!)

Or what about those troubling novellas?  Again, the Neb Ballot (which has recently imposed the draconian rule that "Works may not be nominated by their authors, editors, publishers, or agents") comes to the rescue with: "A story of at least 17,500 words but less than 40,000 words."  Such as, for example:

* "Welcome to Bordertown" by Terri Windling & Ellen Kushner (23,000 words - but, hey, there were two of us!)

Get the idea?  

It's a win/win situation. You nominate me and my friends, and we never tell anyone that you couldn't remember what the hell a novelette was.

BONUS COOLNESS POINTS  

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation: For dramatic works such as motion pictures, television, Internet, radio, audio, and stage productions (Also on Nebula Ballot)

Why run with the herd, nominating all those films & TV shows that everyone else has seen, too?  Why not nominate something different this year - like a musical-feminist-shtetl-klezmer-magicrealist audio drama (starring Tovah Feldshuh, Simon Jones & Neil Gaiman)?  I speak, of course, of
The Witches of Lublin.  
SFWA members can get a link to hear the whole show, and to see other nominated dramatic work, here.

(And everyone else:  You can get the special extended 2-hour Witches download here on Audible.com)

ETA:  So don't be shy, folks!  Be sure to ask for the word count when asking friends and colleagues what they published in 2011!

We'll all be glad you did.

voteformevoteformegivecantripsilkvoteforme

  

Comments

[orizarising.livejournal.com]

you should be nominated for best hair, too.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Ya think? OK, yeah, well, as soon as there's a Category for that, I will be up here shamelessly pimping for a nomination in it!

[orizarising.livejournal.com]

you flagrant, girl.

[phoenix64.livejournal.com]

*giggle*

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

OH. OH. I WROTE ONE OF THOSE ONE TIME! I feel so much better knowing they are a thing that exists somewhere in published form.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Novellas can be devilish hard to sell - hard to find a print format for short fiction that can use that length - though some kids' books are, in fact, under 40,000 words. Still, I think the new online publishing world can be a lot more flexible on length, having no real physical space considerations.

And that 20-40,000 words is just some writers' natural length.

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

I've been noticing the former. I've made it worse because it's really pretty YA, and there aren't many YA short fiction markets, especially for longish short fiction by unknown writers. Clever of me to write it, then. But I'm considering online publishing with decreasing suspicion.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Are there **ANY** YA short fiction markets? Other than targeted (and probably invitation-only) anthologies?

As far as I can tell, the only vibrant short fiction market that is actually alive in America today is SF & F. I bless the gods that let it prosper - while cursing the fact that, as a result, few short fiction readers ever see anything we write, because it has Genre Cooties. No John Kessell or Theodora Goss for them, then!

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY! Gosh, what a depressing train of thought! Clearly what this all means is that it's about time for me to start one of those new-fangled internet magazines. If it doesn't exist, make it yourself?

Novellas

[paddymeboy.livejournal.com]

As it happens, I am teaching a course starting next week on "The Latin American Novella." (I taught a course last year called Great Big Novels, "Grandes Novelas Grandes," so this year it's "Grandes Novelas Chicas.") It turns out that novellas are pretty much the orphans of genre theory: there's lots of theorizing about What a Short Story Is, and lots about What a Novel Is, but nothing for the in-between. The Nebula shows class in honoring novellas, and shows more class in not trying to define them except by length. And of course you show lots of class by writing one. It is rather a pity that, by the rigorous definitions of my field, you can't write a Latin American novella, or I promise I would teach it!--

Re: Novellas

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

"...shows more class in not trying to define them except by length."

There's another way?

Fascinating.

I would love to be taught by you. I must emigrate at once!

[rachel-swirsky.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed your story in TEETH this year. I think it got at why I find vampires sort of fascinating, but usually frustrating.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Oh, THANK YOU! I didn't think anyone had noticed it.

And I didn't even tell you that the original working title was "Another Irritating Vampire," did I?

[rachel-swirsky.livejournal.com]

Ha!

[charlesatan.livejournal.com]

I loved that story too!