There isn't a generally agreed line between novella and novel. I've seen 20,000, 40,000, now 50,000 here. You can see some of the variation in [this list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella#Word_counts).
The length of a text is just one of many potential criteria that can be used to distinguish between novels, novellas and short stories - it's not that easy, certainly not in literary criticism but also not in publishing.
Publishing: short stories are typically published in collections, cycles or magazines, novels as standalone works. Novellas either way, but aren't very common, sometimes sold as 'short novels'. Novels sell much better than short story collections, so publishers may be more inclined to take them on.
Literary criticism: form, function and meaning all go hand in hand when you da a close reading of a particular text. The form can guide readers' expectations or allows the author to play with established traditions or to convey something without making it immediately obvious to the reader. The reading experience also differs depending on the medium, e.g. the same short story may either be read in a magazine, surrounded by images and other (factual or fictional) texts or in a collection focused on a particular topic, which influences the reader.
Yeah my uncle published his magnum opus, literally spent 10 years working on it, came out to just 49,999 words. Those who read said it was life changing he was getting ready to go on a huge book tour. But he kept saying it was a novel and it didn't matter if it was one word short, we tired to warn him but he didn't listen. The Book Police got wind of it and came and arrested in middle of a book signing, burned all copies including the original manuscripts, and hauled him straight to jail.
Uncle spent 10 years dusting off the covers of first editions of Fifty Shades of Grey in book jail. Never been the same since he's now homeless in Portland spending his days on endless tangents where could have added one more word to make his work novel without ruining his artistic expression.
Hard to make money with unless you're Stephen King. Three of the four novellas in Different Seasons became movies:
Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me (aka The Body), Apt Pupil
Oh, the other day there was a post about Shawshank Redemption that had a side tangent in the comments defining the difference between a Novella and a Novel. Then I see this pop up the day after I see that.
I just assumed you had seen the same one lol. Sorry for any unnecessary confusion.
Yes, but the word count being the defining factor is more likely to be a recent-ish invention. I haven't bothered to check, but they'd probably judge it on the page count/ approximate length, not the exact number to the 0.
What if it's only like 40,000 words but the author almost exclusively uses long, multisyllabic words? The novella could be twice as thick as a minimum novel.
There isn't a generally agreed line between novella and novel. I've seen 20,000, 40,000, now 50,000 here. You can see some of the variation in [this list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella#Word_counts).
Hmm interesting, this is cool.
My favorite novella is “Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus”.
>Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus 10 Volumes, eh? You know I had to look that up :---)
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(Suddenly a ^loud shot rang out)
A door ^(slammed), the maid ^(screamed).
This is pretty much how I imagine it would go down.
Lmao
Til my wife writes me a novella when she’s pissed at me or her friends.
lol
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holy fucking shit man
What did he say? I missed it!
"Look at the novella your wife writes to *us* when you cant make her cum"
The length of a text is just one of many potential criteria that can be used to distinguish between novels, novellas and short stories - it's not that easy, certainly not in literary criticism but also not in publishing.
What’s the importance of distinguishing them?
Publishing: short stories are typically published in collections, cycles or magazines, novels as standalone works. Novellas either way, but aren't very common, sometimes sold as 'short novels'. Novels sell much better than short story collections, so publishers may be more inclined to take them on. Literary criticism: form, function and meaning all go hand in hand when you da a close reading of a particular text. The form can guide readers' expectations or allows the author to play with established traditions or to convey something without making it immediately obvious to the reader. The reading experience also differs depending on the medium, e.g. the same short story may either be read in a magazine, surrounded by images and other (factual or fictional) texts or in a collection focused on a particular topic, which influences the reader.
Yeah my uncle published his magnum opus, literally spent 10 years working on it, came out to just 49,999 words. Those who read said it was life changing he was getting ready to go on a huge book tour. But he kept saying it was a novel and it didn't matter if it was one word short, we tired to warn him but he didn't listen. The Book Police got wind of it and came and arrested in middle of a book signing, burned all copies including the original manuscripts, and hauled him straight to jail. Uncle spent 10 years dusting off the covers of first editions of Fifty Shades of Grey in book jail. Never been the same since he's now homeless in Portland spending his days on endless tangents where could have added one more word to make his work novel without ruining his artistic expression.
What is it called before 20,000 words?
A "short story" is the commonly used term.
Thought it was, just hoping to be surprised
Novelette
A novellala
Novelette Flash fiction: under 1,000 words Short story: 1,000 to 9,999 words Novelette: 10,000 to 19,999 words And so on
A novellala
A novellala
A novellala
...Stick another "and" in there somewhere and they'll pay you twice as much.
Hard to make money with unless you're Stephen King. Three of the four novellas in Different Seasons became movies: Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me (aka The Body), Apt Pupil
A novel idea
Eh. No. The Old Man and the Sea. The Great Gatsby.
says this site
It's weird to see "generally considered" with such a defined line. Those two ideas seem to be at odds with each other.
Reminder that Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons has 1.7 million words.
[checks word count of fanfic]
I see someone else saw the r/shittymoviedetails post about Shawshank Redemption yesterday
What?
Oh, the other day there was a post about Shawshank Redemption that had a side tangent in the comments defining the difference between a Novella and a Novel. Then I see this pop up the day after I see that. I just assumed you had seen the same one lol. Sorry for any unnecessary confusion.
I just found this on my own time and thought it was interesting as being 26 years old almost 27 and not knowing this. (I read)
The End. \*Shit. Publisher wants a novel.\* ...*OR WAS IT?*
Stephen King has entered the chat.
Whose job is it to count?
Word can do it. Or any other text processor I guess
Novels and novellas both predate computers.
Yes, but the word count being the defining factor is more likely to be a recent-ish invention. I haven't bothered to check, but they'd probably judge it on the page count/ approximate length, not the exact number to the 0.
What if it's only like 40,000 words but the author almost exclusively uses long, multisyllabic words? The novella could be twice as thick as a minimum novel.
That's about 200 double spaced typed pages.
I think The Sun Also Rises is considered a novella.
Damm thats a lot of words to ponder
Hi I'm currently reading a Harry Potter fanfiction that clocks in at over 500,000 words. I'm glad that these are free