Grow Op

[scribbler1382]

Someone mentioned in another thread about how Stephen King's The Stand started life as a short story, and I think we all know the story of how Carrie started as a short story and was rescued from the trash by King's wife before it became the novel that put him on the map. I'd like to look at this idea a bit more. Whether we read King or not, we've all heard of these stories -- a short story turned into a novel. My question is, what are the pitfalls and is it a good idea? How do you do it, without having the outcome look like a short story wearing 10 layers of whale blubber to make it look bigger?

Several years ago, I wrote a 20,000 word novella. It's arguably the best thing I've ever written, but an absolute bear to market because of its length. (I actually did sell it once to a small press, but 6 months after signing the contract, they wrote me and tried to change it so I'd end up with even less money, so I pulled it. On reflection I'm not sure how smart it was, but that's for another thread.) One comment I get a lot from it is I should turn it into a novel. I always ignore this, figuring that it's the length it's suppose to be. But now I'm not so sure. On the other hand, I don't want to become one of those writers who just write and rewrite the same stories over and over until their ticker stops and no one ever hears of them.

So, is this a good idea? Is it better to spend your time writing something new? What are the traps?

[Jamesaritchie]

You do it by not turning a short story into a novel, but by writing a novel that has the same plot and protagonist as the short story.

20,000 words may well be the exact length your novella should be, but this doesn't in any way mean you can't write a short story using the same plot and characters as the novella, or that you can't write a novel using the same plot and characters as your novella.

I've had to turn novellas into 2,000 word short stories, but this isn't done by cutting, it's done by writing a 2,000 word short story that has the same plot as the novella, along with some of the same characters.

It works the same way going in teh other direction. I can't turn one of my 2,000 word short stories into a novel simply by adding length. Doing this is just padding. What I can do is write a novel that uses the same plot and the same characters as the short story. The novel will have more characters, more threads, more subplots, just as all novel have. But it will be written just as if the short story never existed.

I think a good idea is to read some SF novels that first saw life as short stories. Read both versions. The basic plot will be the same, and the protagonist will be the same, but pretty much everything else is new.

Length is always a choice based on how many characters, how many threads, how many complications, and how many subplots we want to add to the basic framework of plot and protagonist.

[JAlpha]

I'm nearly finished writing my first novella. Throughout the process of writing it, I unexpectedly created several spinoff short stories and poems. I didn't plan this, it was an unexpected bonus. That got me to thinking about whether or not I actually had some poems and short stories that I could possibly turn into novels. I realized I did, and the key to the process is related to similiar plot and character development as James has suggested, but for me, strong scene development was also a factor. I focused so much attention on not padding my scenes with extraneous expostition, many of them can "stand alone" as solid short stories. Also, much of the narrative is wound so tight, the poems were practically extracted right off the page "as is".

I think dynamic scene development would also be key in expanding a short story into a novel--without creating that "padded" effect.

[Maryn]

I, too, have novels that began life as short stories. (All right, long short stories, in the 8-10,000 word range, which made them completely unmarketable.) I didn't expand them to novel length by adding or by padding but by expanding. I provided backstory, got lots more character development, took more time with setting, and added supporting characters and subplots. The basic story remains the same.

Maryn, noting that she didn't sell the suckers, merely wrote them

[PattiTheWicked]

I think to an extent it depends on just "what does the story NEED?" Orson Scott Card originally wrote Ender's Game as a short story. From there, it evolved into an entire book -- which he had to write so he could tell the story of the second book in the series, Speaker for the Dead.

Stephen King, IMO, is the master of the novella. Stories like Rita Hayworth & the Shawshank Redemption, and The Body are short, but absolutely perfect at the length they are. If either had been any longer, they might have lost something, but as they were published they worked beautifully. He told the story he needed to tell, nothing more and nothing less.

[Garpy]

King maybe the master of the novella...and those examples you give, his Bachman books, are simply stunning. But he has become the master of verbal diahrea (sp?). His more recent books feel like short stories that have been ridiculously padded. I used to love King, but now I just can't be arsed to wade through his stuff any more.

[maestrowork]

It really depends on the story. Some stories are short and they stay short because they just don't have enough subplot or character development or whatever. Some short stories can be extended by adding more narratives, character development and subplot, etc. It also depends on your writing style. My story could feel "short" but my first draft ended up 95K -- but it's a mainstream story.

Short stories make the best movies. So perhaps you could look into turning it into a screenplay.

[James D. Macdonald]

I've done the short-story-to-novel thing once or twice. It's harder than it looks.

In one case (http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/mon_head.htm) we used the original short story as the central event in a novel (http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/groohead.htm). In another case we used the short story (http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/wolfhead.htm) as the opening event in a longer narrative (http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/bb_head.htm) (that eventually became a series).

The trick isn't to add more words: It's to add more plot.

[maestrowork]

Fight Club also started as a short story, which later became Chapter 6 in the novel. It worked because the short story was really just an idea/premise. Palahniuk was able to expand the concept into a longer book -- even so, Fight Club isn't a very long book (200 pages or so?) It's rare for a short story to turn into an epic... save The Stand.

[Jamesaritchie]

King maybe the master of the novella...and those examples you give, his Bachman books, are simply stunning. But he has become the master of verbal diahrea (sp?). His more recent books feel like short stories that have been ridiculously padded. I used to love King, but now I just can't be arsed to wade through his stuff any more.

We have the oppsite opinion of King. I think he's writing better material now than he ever has. If there's a single word of padding in any of his recent novels, I can't find it. There's no wading through a King novel. It's flying all the way.

[maestrowork]

I think King is one of those writers you either love or hate.

[Jamesaritchie]

It really depends on the story. Some stories are short and they stay short because they just don't have enough subplot or character development or whatever. Some short stories can be extended by adding more narratives, character development and subplot, etc. It also depends on your writing style. My story could feel "short" but my first draft ended up 95K -- but it's a mainstream story.

Short stories make the best movies. So perhaps you could look into turning it into a screenplay.

Yes, but adding plot, subplot, and character is what it's all about. That's how you make a short story long, or a long story short. Any story can be told at any length. It's how you tell it that makes the difference.

[emeraldcite]

I think all writers need a good editor, whether in the business, a friend, or at their side, and I think King's always needed an editor, but everyone is too afraid at this point to touch his stuff.

Really, would you like to be the editor to tell Stephen King that he needs to cut some of the fluff?

[whoosh]

That's the sound of your career going down the commode.

I love King, but I think he needs someone to help him cut some of the fluff...

[pepperlandgirl]

Actually, now that i think about it, a lot of my novels started from short stories. Mainly, I wrote a story then thought, "What the hell happened to my characters after that event?" They were more than happy to tell me, and a novel was born...

[Gabriele]

Usually, a story tells me in the beginning whether it will become a short or a novel, and those that don't end up as discarded ideas. Except that one story that right now is a short but could easily become a novel. Only, the King Arthur market is so overdone, imho, that I don't want to waste my time with it.