What Is a Novella in Literature and Writing?

There are many types and styles of fiction that writers can employ when telling their stories. Many write short stories and novels, but they can also write drabbles, flash fiction, novelettes*, and more.

(Word Count for Novels and Children's Books.)

In this post, we're going to look at what a novella is, including what makes it different from other types of fiction writing, examples of effective novellas, and more.

A novella is basically a short novel or long short story. In fact, there's a bit of gray area about where each begins and ends. However, a good rule of thumb is to say that a novella is a fictional story between 15,000 and 40,000 words. (*Some sources say novellas get as low as 10,000 words, but I think that gets into novelette territory.)

Even then, a publisher may refer to a novella as a short story or novel, because those terms are more commonly used in the marketplace. It simplifies things, which usually means improved sales numbers for a marketing and sales department. But make no mistake, novellas are not "less than" when it comes to storytelling.

Many great stories and pieces of literature have been presented in the novella format. Here are a few examples of effective novellas:

Novellas can tell a range of stories in a variety of genres. The examples above are probably considered "literary," but novellas are quite capable of telling a variety of genre fiction as well, including horror, science fiction, romance, and more.