writing novellas

I passed 21,000 words in the first book of my new science fiction series yesterday, officially making it a "novella" (novellas are traditionally 20-40,000 words long). I am just about to write the "climactic" final scenes, so the final length should be just under 23,000 words. As I go through my first real edit next, I might add a few bits of dialogue here and there, or even a new scene if it appears the story needs it, but in the end, the story will top out at no more that 25,000 words, so a novella it is.

While comparing this story to my first full-length (95,000-word) novel, Cyberdrome, I have to say I really prefer shorter works. It's not that I'm lazy; it's just that I really prefer to read medium-length stories, especially if there are more stories to come in that universe (I have outlined 4 stories in this series.) Novellas tend to be more concise and to the point (i.e. there is no room for rambling dialogue or "filler" chapters in a 20,000-word story.) Novellas are also closer to the structure of screenplays, which to me is a good thing.
More on the uniqueness of novellas in the link below:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/10/some-notes-on-the-novella.html

Writing Update

I completed 5 chapters of the first book in my new series last night - passing 16,000 words. Only one chapter to go!

As soon as I finish that, I am going to start writing a short story (10-15k words) that I outlined 10 years ago. After that, I'll go back to book #2 in the new series.

I'm on a writing roll!

writing science fiction

To answer a question from a fellow writer on Google+, I thought I would go ahead and mention how I go about outlining a new story and what I do to keep track of all the many details involved in world-building.

For Cyberdrome, which was my first full-length science fiction novel, I knew I would be taking several months to write it (actually turned out to be several years) so I knew I would need a very detailed outline to keep the story coherent over many writing sessions, sometimes separated by weeks, or even months.

Since I decided to plot Cyberdrome as a scene-based thriller, I created a very complicated excel file that contained dozens of little details, like character profiles, scene descriptions, which characters were in any given scene, location descriptions for each scene, tension level of each scene, character arcs for each major character, etc. I also plotted words per scene, words written per week, and tension level scene-by-scene (important for a thriller). In hindsight, I think I spent far more time on that darn file than actually writing the manuscript!

For the science fiction series I am writing now, which is planned as four ~20,000-word novellas (with 8 more stories outlined if the series does well), I simplified everything and just created a number of MS Word documents in advance. These included;
1)  A short outline which is a paragraph description of each book in the series
2)  A detailed outline which is a page or two long and describes the major events of the book, and sometimes a bit of dialogue if it's important.
3)  Character profiles for all major characters, including a picture of an actor matching the part. I find that if I add a real face to the part, it forces me to make that character more three dimensional.
4)  Background info like the "history of the world" leading up the events in the story (my series is maybe 150 years in the future)
5)  A list of any "secrets" I plan to distribute throughout the series.
6)  Setting descriptions: Most people wouldn't do this, but since most of my stories take place on board a cargo submarine of the future, I created a detailed floor plan of the entire ship, and then my brother rendered the whole thing, inside and out, in 3D. So now when I walk through a room, I can describe every detail if I want, because I can actually look at real images of it. This really helps me "live" in the space I'm describing.

So, before I started writing the manuscript, I printed all of this out and placed it in a 3-ring binder, so that while I am writing, I can reference everything quickly.

Now is this new simplified method working any better than the older, more complicated one? I think it is. However, what is probably more important is the fact that I am now writing as often as possible, at least 3-4 times a week, even if it is only for 30 minutes at a time. I used to think I needed 3-4 hours in order to organize my thoughts and make the characters come alive, but that's why it took me so ling to write my first book, because I seldom found 3-4 hours free time in any given day. Now I find that by writing several 'quickies" a week, the story stays in my head and I can actually output quite a bit in those 30-minute sessions.

So that's my method. What's yours?

7,500 words in new story

I passed 7,500 words in my new story last night, and I haven't even reached the halfway point in my outline yet. I was originally hoping for at least 20,000 words for this first story (of three) to put it firmly in a "novella" category (typically 17,000 to 40,000 words) and I should reach and then pass that mark quite easily. When I eventually finish all three novellas, I plan to combine them into a final "Omnibus edition" novel, which should be 60-80,000 words long. Still enjoying the experience of writing again!

5,000-word mark

Passed 5,000 words in my new story today. I love this story!

WIP Update

I past 4,000 words in my wip (work in progress) today. The more amazing part (to me) is that I am doing this in short but regular bursts of writing (half hour every other day or so), rather than how I wrote my first novel, Cyberdrome, which was 4-hour stints once every week or two. I didn't think I could write this way, but I actually like is better. I find that I don't "loose the moment" when I keep the space between writing less than 48 hours, which is great! I recommend it to anyone who, like me, feels they have no time to write.

The New Story - part 2

I wrote another 1,000 words of the new story last night. I'm not averaging 1,000 words per day like some writers I know, but 1,000 words per writing session works very well for me. My original goal for this first of four stories was around 20,000 words, with a goal of ~80,000 words for the 4-book series when finished. However, as I am 10% there already and my characters are just now leaving the dock on their way to the adventure that will change their lives, I think this first story will be much longer, which is great!

My first science fiction novel, Cyberdrome, was such a struggle because it was originally going to be a movie script, then it turned into a graphic novel, then finally a traditional novel (with a few of my brother's illustrations moved to the end.) I was also trying to base it on a computer game my brother and I had created years earlier, but at the same time, trying to infuse it with cutting edge technology and still make it a character-centered story. Add to that my brother kept designing really cool vehicles and gizmos that sent me down new avenues of thought on a weekly basis. That's why it ultimately took me 7 years to complete.

Thinking back on those days, it reminds me of Ridley Scott's problems with bringing "Prometheus" to life on the big screen, in that he apparently kept changing his mind about what the story was ultimately about (from what I've read anyway.)

So after my experience, I decided that all future books would be outlined beginning to end, in detail, and "written in stone" long before I started typing a single word of the manuscript. I also decided to create this story with no outside influences this time. I've been doing that for about a year now and I even have all of the characters and sub-plots firmly established on paper and in my mind.

I should add that my brother, Dave, is still involved, but this time he doing what he does best, which is bringing the futuristic submarine (where 80% of my story takes place) to life, inside and out, using CGI modeling. Even he doesn't know the plots of any of the stories yet, although he will be the first to read them when they are finished.

I am completely ready for this and it's showing in how ridiculously fast this first story is flowing out of my brain and into my laptop.

More as it happens...