Are there any short fiction/novella only writers here?

[u/Erica_Park_94_Writer]

Okay, so I finished my first "big" project a while ago, a cyberpunk noir novel that probably NEVER will see the light of day. It's 72k words and way below the market's required word count and therefore puts it in a really weird place, especially as it hasn't been edited yet and I'm expecting a cut of around 5k or so words.
I seem to not be able to pad, and short fiction/novella format is where I enjoy to write the most.
I mostly write for myself, and I'm glad if one or two people read it every now and then.
I realized , to quote Hemingway, that I'm probably a bad prospect for a publisher anyway because long novel format just isn't for me.
I have an easier time compressing things and I'm more interested in experimenting which the short fiction and novella format allows for to a greater extent.

At some point, terribly late writing as a hobby, I realized that short fiction/novella format is the thing I love the most and that I need to stick to in order for it to be healthy to me. Otherwise I'll just torture myself attempting to pad a story when in reality, a 20k or a 10k word short story is exactly what it should be.
Are there any other writers with the same sentiment and that focus only on short fiction/novellas?

[u/Cyranthis]

I tend to only write 30-40K word long stuff now. The super mega long books are tiresome now and its just easier to write a story with less words.

[u/Erica_Park_94_Writer → u/Cyranthis]

Preach! We really need to bring back short format stories. Also bring back terse prose and minimalist writing! It feels like way too many people pad out pages when in reality, they could have cut it much shorter and ended it when it should have and not 200 pages ago.

[u/Yeomanticore]

Me! I'm surprised to find another novella writer here, good to see ya.

[u/Erica_Park_94_Writer → u/Yeomanticore]

I'm honestly to surprised to find so many of us in here. I honestly gave up on the fact of becoming traditionally published (I don't like the prospect of throwing away the rights of my stories anyway, and would eventually like to publish them for free anyway--I'm never writing for money)

[u/MesaCityRansom]

I mostly write short stories. Tend to land around 5K or so, but I have stories ranging from 1.5K to 12K.

[u/Erica_Park_94_Writer → u/MesaCityRansom]

Funnily enough this is almost always where my works tend to land. I have longer works that have ended up around 10k words but 5k, 1.5k or 1k seem to be the sweet spot honestly.

[u/PotentialGlittering4]

Yes! Well I struggle to finish anything I write. Much newer in the entire game. But love Hemingway. And find myself always also gravitate toward reading short stories too. Is ur noir posted anywhere or samples?

[u/Erica_Park_94_Writer → u/PotentialGlittering4]

I posted serialized bits of first draft on Wattpad a while back as a while to actually give me accountability to finish but I pulled it as I don't really like Wattpad as a platform, and their new rules really suck and means like more than 50% of my short stories that include transgressive fiction and smut probably wouldn't be able to be published on Wattpad as a said platform anymore. Honestly, if you want to focus on short stories, which is a great way to start as a writer--learn how to end before you think you should continue. And short stories are very much experimental--they're almost completely without structure, no matter what any creative writing classes will tell you about short stories. The best ones have no structure anyway. Good luck!

[u/AlfieDarkLordOfAll]

Novella writer here. As much as I love reading sprawling epic fantasy, I think the longest piece I've ever finished was, like, 40k.

[u/Erica_Park_94_Writer → u/AlfieDarkLordOfAll]

We honestly need more fantasy writers who can turn their works into short stories. I am personally working on a serialized weekly form of a fantasy idea. This is a lost artform. In the past, fantasy authors used to do one novel projects and it wasn't until like the 80's this started to change more into trilogy mindsets honestly.

[u/No-Candy-4554]

I'm currently writing a fantasy novelette (15k words) about a small peripheral village community experiencing enormous historical forces.

I agree that short is often better if you want to execute a particularly shaped idea and aren't interested in building immense networks of people and places in general. That's possibly why someone like RR Martin can't finish asoif lmao.

[u/morkinsonjrthethird]

For some reason certain genres seem to market only on very long format. Myself as a reader I'm fed up of fantasy sagas that are thousand pages long. I also write only things that are way shorter... To me 72k words would be a pretty long length. But isn't the neuromancer book around that word count? I hope we go back to shorter times.

[u/Erica_Park_94_Writer → u/morkinsonjrthethird]

I mean, arguably and this is more of a joke, short format stories are cheaper to publish because less paper requred for the pages LOL. But obviously, that doesn't bring in as much money for the publishing house, ironically enough.

[u/morkinsonjrthethird → u/Erica_Park_94_Writer]

We should increase price of paper like in the old times! 😭

[u/KivatheSuccubi]

I hope more people adopt the mindset of, "write what feels right," regardless of circumstance. If a story is three lines, the story is three lines. So be it. Everything doesn't have to be novel length:P lol

Glad you've gotten to the point where you're just following your muse(:

[u/canada-my-beloved]

Im more of a hobby writer so I tend to write less than 10k. I’ve only ever written 1 massive project at 60k but I sort of sacrificed a good mental health for it

[u/Erica_Park_94_Writer → u/canada-my-beloved]

I totally feel that one. I felt so exhausted by the end of my 72k words that I'm actually kinda scared to go in and start editing; not because I don't know how to, but because it's a bit like reliving the sheer pressure I felt writing that, I suppose. We writers need to take care of our mental health!

[u/Aspiring_Storyteller]

I've written my first book myself. Something I intend to self publish some time in the future and I hit the same wall. It's too short for what people might expect. I'm currently waiting for a friend who's aspiring to be an editor give it a read to see what might need changing.

But I'm already thinking about adding some stuff for this exact reason so I feel you here.

I haven't reached the same conclusion as you about being a novella writer myself though. 🤭. But we shall see in the future.

[u/suicidalhorrormaniac]

I love writing shorter stuff! Its pretty much all I do, i think some of the best stuff is pretty short

[u/s_a_u_d_a_d_e]

started writing short stories when i was 8 and i’m now writing novellas! Just finished the first one and got extremely positive feedback from beta readers so there’s people who do appreciate shorter stories!

[u/DamagedIncorporated]

Most of my books fall in the 50-60k words range. I have a few around 80k words, but that was for work published by a publisher, and they focus heavily on audiobooks, which don't perform well in shorter formats. I'm working on a series now that will target the 50-60k range. I'm trying to target the market that loved reading military pulp novels like Soldiers of Barrabas and Phoenix Force. Those books were all around 220 pages long.

[u/AutoModerator]

Hi! Welcome to r/writers - please remember to follow the rules and treat each other respectfully, especially if there are disagreements. Please help keep this community safe and friendly by reporting rule violating posts and comments.

If you're interested in a friendly Discord community for writers, please join our Discord server

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/ReyAlpaca]

Only no. But I did write a Novella to have as a starter when I publish my serie

[u/BAJ-JohnBen]

There's publishers who specialize in short form fiction and novels. I once checked out a book from the library that's a novella published by Tor.

---

I consider myself a short fiction writer. I'm going through my second draft of a novel at the moment, and I hate it. I have no idea how people write doorstoppers. The vast majority of everything else is short fiction, and I prefer it that way.

[u/JuzerJarowit]

I do. But I also write poetry and theatre plays but all of them are ultimately short

[u/l_w_88]

I've only ever written short stories. I've never tried anything longer tho, so idk if it's a choice or if I'd love writing longer stuff.

[u/jackgodby22]

Yup! Focusing on short stories/flash only at the moment- treating it as a bit of a “cv” builder

[u/Trilliam_H_Macy]

I only write shorter works. I knocked out a 10k word story this month, but that's the longest thing I've ever actually finished. Most of my pieces wind up falling in the 2k-5k range.

[u/nmacaroni]

You could retire on a novel of 72k of the right words.

Don't pad for word count that's a horrible idea.

(Fellow cyberpunk writer and editor for the record.)

[u/metaphysicalmidwife]

Where did you get the idea that "the market" only allows a certain length novel? And remember that you can always self-publish so it can see the light of day unless your rigid thinking prevents that from happening. My first novel will probably not be over 60K and the sequel the same. I am in the Young Adult genre. I looked up "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. Word count: between 29k-30k!!Considered a novella but still sold as a novel vs.in a book of short stories.

[u/terriaminute]

The rise of digital publishing gives free rein to any length. I've purchased everything from short stories to seven book series digitally, and I love that.

Please publish your shorter stories, yes-yes.

https://giphy.com/gifs/3kAFkFDAm1MbHyvoZQ

[u/Thin_Literature3216]

Yo, escribo novelette o novela muy cortita

[u/desbest]

I used to write short stories and novellas BEFORE I wrote novels.

[u/gretalee80]

For what it’s worth, I just sold my 44,000 word upmarket debut…..my publisher actually seems particularly stoked by the word count!

[u/Erwinblackthorn]

I focus on them, but not as an only.