A couple of new articles chart the rise of the shorter novel. A friend’s latest novel is now under 60,000 words. The advice about this kind of count has been “you’d better have 80,000 words to be seriously considered.” Things have changed — but you might also say they’ve changed back.
A short novel can feel very in vogue. Another friend noted that Stephen King’s The Body, and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, had to bundled together at first, in the collection Different Seasons. Then those novellas became the films Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption. You buy them now as standalone paperbacks.
The Pulitzer Prize-winner The Nickel Boys is 59,000 words. Another, The Old Man and the Sea, is only 26,000. The Great Gatsby is 48,000. Hemingway (Old Man) and Fitzgerald (Gatsby) cut their teeth in the era of the short story. Colson Whitehead with The Nickel Boys, not so much.
Courtney Maum and Lincoln Michel are a couple of great authors who write about creating and publishing. They’ve pointed out that novels can be short and still a delicious, powerful read. Michel write a novel, The Body Scout, about a baseball major league in the future where teams rebuild human bodies limb by limb so players last longer.
Maum is a memoirist and novelist whose Before and After the Book Deal is essential reading if you’re expanding your author career, or would like to.
The point to take away is that the size of a book doesn’t make it worthy. Writing a novel shorter can be the perfect size, if many of the following are true about your book.
It has a steady focus, since it follows the fortunes of a single character over a limited time, as Philip Gerard says in Writing a Book that Makes a Difference. The story is told to make a point.
Its story unfolds in a specific locale. For example, Toledo, and Great Lakes cities nearby.
It takes place in a short period of time. The briefer your time period, the shorter your book can be.
It has a small cast. In Hemingway’s book, it’s the old man Santiago, the boy Manolin, and then the mighty fish.
It has a restricted point of view. Gatsby is narrated by a peripheral character, Nick.
You needn’t have all of these true to make a fine short book. But consider them as touchstones. Take a chance on finding a smaller book inside your bigger draft.
