Writing a novel first?

celticroots · Jan 18, 2012

I've written some short stories, but I am also in the process of writing my first YA novel. I tried writing a novel when I was in my teens, but the story sagged around the middle. I never got beyond 20,000 words. Looking back, I suspect the middle of the story might have been the problem.

Now, I am working on a novel with a similar idea that my first one had. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this one will go better.

I'd like to get a novel published one day, but it is wise to try and get short stories published first? I am nowhere near ready to query a novel, but is writing a novel first a bad idea? Am I wasting my time by writing novels first? I prefer writing longer pieces of short stories.

Any information appreciated!

eqb · Jan 18, 2012

If you prefer longer pieces over short stories, then write longer pieces. There's no rule anywhere that says you must start with short stories.

chocowrites · Jan 18, 2012

You're fine with just starting with writing novels, if that's what you enjoy more.

Niiicola · Jan 18, 2012

From what I've read, it's helpful to have publishing credentials when you're querying agents, but it's not essential. The main thing they're looking at is the book you're trying to sell. Anything else is a bonus. So go for it!

dangerousbill · Jan 18, 2012

celticroots said:
... but it is wise to try and get short stories published first?

Writing short stories makes you better at writing short stories. Writing novels makes you better at novels.

Sometimes I've used a short story to 'interview' a character before developing them into a novel. Since character development in a short story is very limited or nonexistent, it's a good litmus test as to whether that same character will be attractive to readers in a novel.

virtue_summer · Jan 18, 2012

Note that writing short stories would not guarantee you would sell those short stories, so they wouldn't necessarily be published. That's not meant as discouragement. I just think you should focus your efforts on what you really want to write rather than what you think you should. If that's a novel, then write a novel.

Becky Black · Jan 19, 2012

Writing short stories will teach you many useful things about writing of course, but the only way to learn to write novels is by writing novels, so the sooner you start the better. There's nothing to say you can't write short stories at the same time if you want to.

Having short story publishing credits to your name won't hurt when querying a novel - it shows you can write prose well enough that someone paid you for it - but the novel would be judged on how well it works as a novel, since being able to write short stories doesn't mean someone can write novels too.

suzie · Jan 19, 2012

I don't think there's anything wrong with you doing both... and with regards to your worry about your novel sagging in the middle, you could try mapping the story out a little - that's if you haven't already.

Good luck with whatever you decide x

seun · Jan 19, 2012

Becky Black said:
being able to write short stories doesn't mean someone can write novels too.

Absolutely true. Some writers can do both; some are more about one than the other but it's important to remember that they're different types of writing.

bearilou · Jan 19, 2012

seun said:
Absolutely true. Some writers can do both; some are more about one than the other but it's important to remember that they're different types of writing.

quoted, and emphasized, for truth.

quicklime · Jan 19, 2012

dangerousbill said:
Writing short stories makes you better at writing short stories. Writing novels makes you better at novels.

.

this.

it used to be common advice to start in shorts, but things have changed. I believe a big one was how hard it can be to get a short someplace competetive enough to matter (there's just far fewer markets, and shorts were often recommended as a way to collect credits. Now it may be harder to pub a short someplace "good" than sell a novel anyway, so you may invest more time on getting a short out there than just writing a damn novel. plus first-timers are accepted all the time), the other is shorts and novels are related but not identical. Just as raising a cat will teach you volumes about personal responsibility, animal husbandry, etc. but not about raising dogs specifically, a short can help you work on the mechanics of a short story, many of which are similar to a novel, but it is only partway the same. If novels are what you want, work in novels, instead of learning a different form where you can keep maybe 75% of what you learn and have to un-learn and/or re-learn that other 25% later anyway.

Katrina S. Forest · Jan 19, 2012

I felt like practicing with short stories helped me to cut down on "pointless scenes" in my novels -- scenes where the characters might've had an interesting conversation, but didn't really advance the plot. I had this problem in my short stories too, actually, which is why they always used to come out to 8,000+ words. ^_^

Sometimes it's nice to break up the monotony of working on a novel with the occasional short story too. But do what feels comfortable for you. Don't write something just to try and score credits for your query letter. It never works out well.

Best of luck!

Oh, and on word count, don't worry about that either. First I thought I could never write something over 30k. Then I broke it and thought I'd never go over 50k. Now I've written something that's 75k. Your story will come out to whatever length it needs to be.

Stacia Kane · Jan 19, 2012

dangerousbill said:
Writing short stories makes you better at writing short stories. Writing novels makes you better at novels.

This. I don't really like writing short stories and am never entirely happy with them, but I flatter myself in thinking I can write a pretty good novel.

Phaeal · Jan 19, 2012

Given the difficulty of breaking a short story into the professional markets (or even the semi-pros), you might as well write a novel first. Especially if that's the project that calls to you at night.

If a novel's marketable enough, agents and editors aren't going to care that you lack short story credits.

Hilldawg · Jan 19, 2012

dangerousbill said:
Writing short stories makes you better at writing short stories. Writing novels makes you better at novels.

Thank you for saying that. I agree.

backslashbaby · Jan 19, 2012

I love writing shorts and am having a very difficult time writing a full novel (for real. I've done it for fun before). They really are so different.

I am going ahead and putting together a collection of shorts, but I wish they would just pop out much, much longer

It's a hard habit to break, so do practice the form you want to do.

I want to do both still. We'll see!

job · Jan 19, 2012

If you have publishable material on the table, go sell it. Poem, recipe for chocolate cake, magazine article, fillers, song lyrics, manga, short story, novella, novel. Doesn't matter.

Every word you have that can be sold should be on an agent or editor's desk all the time.

backslashbaby · Jan 19, 2012

I like how you put that, lol. Yeah, I'm selling my shorts and collecting them, too. And I am working on my novel WIP; it's just much harder for me to do than shorts.

Silver-Midnight · Jan 19, 2012

seun said:
Absolutely true. Some writers can do both; some are more about one than the other but it's important to remember that they're different types of writing.

Agree completely. Took me a long time realize that, but completely agree.

AinSoph · Jan 19, 2012

Like others said, short stories and novels are two different beasts, but I think short stories are a great way to try out ideas and to experiment with style. I wrote a novel before I started working on short stories but I wish I had completed a few beforehand, because I really learned a few things. I like to think of them as practice, like sketches for a final drawing. They're a great way to exercise the craft as long as you're not attached to the idea of selling them.

That's not to say that short stories aren't finished work. One of my favorite authors, Alice Munro, writes nothing but short stories and she has mastered the medium. If you want to write excellent short stories that you can sell and publish, go for it. I just think you can do both.

Taylor V · Jan 19, 2012

I'm hardly an expert, but I think it's just one of those things that depends on you and where you are and what your strengths are.
In my case, I'd done a bunch of flash over the past few years, then started to work on a novel. I realized after not too long that my plotting skills aren't too good yet (a lot of the things I've written are "vignettes" rather than "stories"), so I decided to put the novel aside for the moment and put in some more serious work on shorts to help build those skills, and get me more used to writing longer things and spending more time on an individual piece.
Of course it helps that I enjoy writing shorts. If you don't, you shouldn't do it just because you think you have to.

Anne Lyle · Jan 19, 2012

Phaeal said:
If a novel's marketable enough, agents and editors aren't going to care that you lack short story credits.

QTF. I probably know more debut authors with zero-to-minimal short story credits, than ones who have a stack of credentials. The paying short story market is very small, even in SFF where it's traditionally been strong, and thus fiercely competitive.

lady_K · Feb 2, 2012

If you feel more drawn to the novel, write the novel. the other stories can wait. just follow your heart.
hope that helps

The Seanchai · Feb 6, 2012

Honestly I think having a blog and followers would do more for the novel getting published. If you can show an editor/agent that there is public interest in the story (public meaning beyond friends and family) then they can see that people are interested in it.

Of course this is coming from an unpublished writer so take it for what it's worth--this is just my opinion.

Aggy B. · Feb 6, 2012

celticroots said:
I've written some short stories, but I am also in the process of writing my first YA novel. I tried writing a novel when I was in my teens, but the story sagged around the middle. I never got beyond 20,000 words. Looking back, I suspect the middle of the story might have been the problem.

Now, I am working on a novel with a similar idea that my first one had. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this one will go better.

I'd like to get a novel published one day, but it is wise to try and get short stories published first? I am nowhere near ready to query a novel, but is writing a novel first a bad idea? Am I wasting my time by writing novels first? I prefer writing longer pieces of short stories.

Any information appreciated!

Writing a novel is a different skill than writing a short story. Some people only write one or the other and some write both, but there's no need to write/publish shorts before you write/publish a novel.

My preference is for longer fiction. Althought I still write micro, flash and short fiction my better stories tend to be the longer ones. (Most of my "short" stories are 5k+.)

The big appeal to writing/publishing short stories first is the ability to try and build a following/platform that might help with later book sales. But that doesn't mean you HAVE to do it that way. Just that you can.

Writing a novel first?

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