Early in my novel-writing journey, I learned about newsletter hooks: free short stories that could introduce readers to a new author and encourage them to buy their other books. My novelette, The Tidelings of Dras Sayve, which celebrates its first anniversary on 21 March, started its life this way. Now in KU, my first newsletter hook is no longer available as a free extra. I recently raised the price to $2.99 as I’d like to enrol it in a Kindle countdown deal (set to free) at some point.
So how do supplementary stories differ from standalone short stories, and how do we best use the format? No author wants to write supplementary material as a marketing gimmick – it must have a purpose. Like any other story, these short reads must be able to work on their own (which can be tricky if you are dealing with some heavy world-building). To keep things interesting for returning readers, a short story should also contribute insights into your world that are not evident in your related novels. However, you also don’t want to make supplementary material so essential that your other works rely on them to explain chunks of plot.
Short Story, Novelette or Novella?
Over the years, I have read articles on short stories, novelettes and novellas. I have also read examples of all these categories of books. While I have some observations on this subject, I am not an expert on story structure. Few can agree on the word count ranges of the different categories, but I tend to think of them in terms of the Nebula Award’s definitions as listed below.
*Modern category definitions: novel, 40,000 words or more; novella, 17,500 to 39,999 words; novelette, 7,500 to 17,499 words; short story, 7,499 words or fewer.
Shorter works share some common traits:
- Fewer characters and settings than in novels
- Linear plot
- May not include chapters
- Fewer subplots
Not all of these will apply, especially in the case of novellas, where the higher word count provides more scope to play with more elements without confusing readers. I think the plot needn’t be linear. A short story of 100 words could easily bounce between past and present. I recently wrote a 7,000-word story that dedicated a third of its length to a flashback (more on that later this year).
What my Prequel Novelette Brings to my Duology
Because my duology features two POV characters whose stories become entwined, I wanted to create prequels that expressed how they came to be where we find them many years later.
Prismer leads Far Removed with more emotional weight to her journey, though Oklas’s arc also comes with turmoil. It seemed fitting to share his backstory first. He can come across as conceited in the early part of the novel, and I wanted to make him a little more sympathetic. You can see the beginnings of his impish personality as a young juvenile, but more than that, you can appreciate how unusual his empathetic side is when you understand the context he grew up in. His clan is affluent but very restrained when it comes to expressing affection. He identifies with the underdogs in his year, but at this point he hasn’t met anyone with far less than him.
Flashbacks of a character’s childhood can come across as overly sentimental, but in this case, it felt warranted. I had left knyads’ early years a mystery to readers. A story about their harvesting ceremonies and early development is made more interesting by the world-building I’d already established in the Apidecca Duology.
Oklas is not the POV character here, Emis is. Like the reader, Emis is an outsider, so he could offer a more nuanced perspective on Sayvian culture than a child (or tideling). He could also carry a conflict that Oklas cannot yet comprehend: engaging with the clan governors to acquire Oklas as his mentee. Emis’s story also hints at themes which will be explored in Book 2 of the Apidecca Duology.
Speaking of Book 2 . . .
I finished the 1st draft of the sequel to Far Removed in February. I’ve spent 18 months on it, and for about five of those, I wrote very little as contract work had brought me close to burnout. The draft is clean in some places and less so in others, but I am now preparing the 2nd draft for my editor in August (moved from June).
Thanks for reading.
C B Lansdell 