Is this considered a 'novel'?

[KiraOnWhite]

Hey everyone, I'm working on a portfolio for a writing programme and the requirement states that novel excerpts are limited to three chapters, each chapter counted as an individual piece. I plan to write a collection of short stories in the same verse with the same main character, but each story can serve as a standalone piece.

I doubt this is considered a novel, but I just want to make sure. What do you guys think? And to be safe, should I refrain from using recurring characters (except for the MC) and including references to previous stories?

Thanks much!

[alleycat]

I agree with you. If each of these stories stands on its own, it would be a collection of short stories.

[Maxinquaye]

A novel is (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/novel) "a fictional prose narrative of considerable length, typically having a plot that is unfolded by the actions, speech, and thoughts of the characters."

Etymologically from the latin word "novellus", which means little news bits.

A short story is its own form, and a respectable form at that, but it is not a novel.

[Polenth]

Though only the writing programme people can give you a final answer....

What you're planning isn't a novel, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea.

I expect the novel restrictions are because they want a selection of writing. I think you'd be harming your chances by submitting a collection of stories with the same main character. In your place, I'd submit three of those stories as though they were novel chapters, then write something completely different for the other portfolio pieces (totally new world, new characters, maybe a few different genres if it's a general writing course, etc).

[KiraOnWhite]

A selection of writing as in to show the range of writing abilities? Will it help if I write each short story with the conventions of different genres, but with a consistent style? I [m also wondering if the characters and setting resonates well enough, the reader will want to read more of it and perhaps familiarity would breed fondness (instead of contempt, lol).

Thanks for your feedback!

[Sevvy]

Hey everyone, I'm working on a portfolio for a writing programme

While the people answering in this thread are giving good advice, you really need to ask whoever is in charge at your writing program what you should do and if what you're planning can count for your portfolio.

[eyeblink]

There are novels which are made up of shorter works - though they are usually linked in some way, either by character or theme or both.

Examples - In a Free State by V.S. Naipaul (a Booker Prize winner), The Beggar Maid by Alice Munro, The Lucky Ones by Rachel Cusk, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

The "fix-up" is a longstanding novel form in SF - see for example A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr and The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe, both of which are three novellas joined together, some of them previously published separately. A more recent example is Charles Stross's Accelerando, which is nine novelettes/novellas joined together.

The boundary between a short-story collection and a novel isn't as clear-cut as some are suggesting, though it will depend on the "feel" of the complete work, how well it hangs together.

[Libbie]

I think if you want to keep this work as a short story collection with the common theme of "same main character" (and not a novel), it would be good to avoid referencing characters and plots among the stories. Otherwise it might get a little ambiguous.

[IceCreamEmpress]

I'm seconding everyone who says "You need to explore this with the writing program."

If I were one of the evaluators and someone sent six short stories with the same main character, I would think that they were trying to evade the "don't send more than three chapters of your novel" guideline.

The "novel in stories" is a rising genre in the US these days. Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/books/review/Thomas-t.html) was a best-seller and critical darling, for instance.

[jvc]

I just wanted to say that I agree with the 'ask the writing program' about it.

[Inkblot]

I agree with you. If each of these stories stands on its own, it would be a collection of short stories.

Olive Kitteridge is considered a novel, but it is also a collection of stories with one character that appears (sometimes very briefly) in each story.

[KiraOnWhite]

Thanks for all your advice, guys. I hesitated to contact the people behind the programme as they are university lecturers and may take a while to reply, but after reading your replies, I'm convinced that its better to write other stories with other worlds and characters as well.

Thanks again!

[ChristineR]

I would add Winesburg, Ohio. There are some characters that occur in more than one story, but there's not a single story arc to it. Everyone seems to call that one a novel, though. It seems to differ from your idea in that it was conceived as a cycle of stories to be published and read together.

Could you change some names and get away with it that way? I think the biggest danger would be giving the impression that you only have created this one set of characters and don't care to write about anything else.

[shaldna]

I did a course with the OU that has an assignement like this, and as far as they were concerned the 'novel' chapters were inteded to be read as the first few chapeters of a novel, with the suggestion that the plot etc goes on.

What you have sound slike a collection of shorts.

[JayG]

If as a whole, it has a central problem, a constant escalation of tension and stakes, a climax and dénouement, does it matter that each chapter can stand alone as a short story? It’s a novel.

If, on the other hand, they are simply stories set in the same world, even with the same characters, it’s a chronicle.

In fact, the first two chapters of the novel I’m calling Monkey Feet were placed with Polygraff magazine (Polymancer Studios’ sci fi magazine). The first chapter, Survival has appeared and Training Mission comes out soon.

They have it, but it’s possible they’ll take a pass on chapter three, and end the chain, because each chapter is a stand alone story, and they have to like each one on its ability to stand alone and capture the reader. But, other than the fact that with their publication schedule it will take the rest of my life to get to chapter seven, it is a novel (though in fairness the rest of it didn’t exist until they bought Survival and I started thinking about what else they might like)