I Can't Write a Long Novel (but I really want to)

c.m.n. · Nov 20, 2017

For most of my life, or I should say since I started writing, I've been writing short stories. First, I started off with flash fiction in my teens. When I became an author, I decided to try to up my word count. I got comfortable writing 25k novellettes, then I worked toward 35k, then I finally hit 50k with a couple of stories I wrote over these last two years. But no matter how hard I try, I can never get past 50k. My highest has been 53k.

Now I know some people say that 50k is a "novel". Hey, we're in NaNoWriMo month right now and 50k wins! But I really, really want to write longer. If I could hit 60k or higher someday, I will literally jump for joy.

So tell me, has anyone out there struggled with writing longer stories? What did you do that helped you besides for reading novels?

indianroads · Nov 20, 2017

I went straight from short stories to 110K novels.

Chris P · Nov 20, 2017

Subplots. Come up with a secondary plot that adds to the stakes of the main plot.

As a simplifed example, go from "dog bites man" to "dog bites man so man bites dog" to "dog bites man so man bites dog so dog's owner sues man who bit his dog."

ancon · Nov 20, 2017

i don't know squat but may help to think in layers. like in a story the cops may be called but they ride by...creates some good tension/suspense...sure...boo....

HAVE THEM STOP. the birthday cake is now about to burn down the house.

in another chapter, someone may really be scared of another character. don't tell why. show why. have the confrontation, don't just describe the fear,etc.

kind of build your characters and all their stuff up, and then run them into a bridge abutment down by the river. car goes in the water. reader can feel someone is gonna drown. who? if the reader feels like he or she is, you're on to something.

Maggie Maxwell · Nov 20, 2017

Fill in the blanks. Do you have a day, a week, a few hours where nothing happens and you pass it over with "A few [time period] later"? Make something happen. Shove in a subplot. Make characters talk to each other. Throw a party. Just fill in the empty times. I usually get a few thousand more words doing this sort of thing.

Another option: when everything is on track, derail the train. Drag them away from the main story for a subplot. Introduce a new secondary villain. Give them a new problem to solve that may be tangentially related to the main problem or may not be related at all. There's always room to shove something new in.

Victor Douglas · Nov 20, 2017

I have trouble writing anything other than 35K novellas. Can't write short stories, can't write full novels. I linked two together into a "Part I, Part II" kind of thing and got myself up to 70K, but it's still annoying.

ancon · Nov 20, 2017

derailing the train is great advice. easier said than done. keep an eye on filler. filler not good. good luck!

ancon · Nov 20, 2017

victor it may help to find a place where you burn down a house in your story. basically, completely take away someone's 'home' and see what happens then. or something like that. it will change your story. the gravy will thicken once it comes to a boil. no doubt about it. good luck!

Putputt · Nov 20, 2017

Are your side characters developed? Do they have their own motivations and arcs? The side characters, when they’re fully fleshed out, should add subplots, which add complexity to the main plot.

Victor Douglas · Nov 20, 2017

@ancon: Hmm, I haven't done that, sounds interesting. Have to think about it.

What I have done is spent hours literally writing page after page in a scene, then spent another session reading it over for a couple of hours... and realizing that some of the additions didn't work. All I did was to remove something I added in earlier, but that still counts as "change on a page", and it made the scene more streamlined and balanced.

But now you know why I have trouble writing lengthy works. I take away almost as much as I write...

ancon · Nov 20, 2017

i hear you. you write and write and then whittle and whittle and then then go out in the front yard and pick up a new stick to whittle on. sometimes seems like all the effort is a pile of shavings. but it isn't.

blackcat777 · Nov 20, 2017

Harlequin · Nov 21, 2017

I struggle to write shorts that aren't scenes.

I do tend to write full length, it seems (which for me comes in at around 80-100k). Generally I have an idea I want to explore that takes more than a couple thousand words, and that provides the backbone to fill out.

Bufty · Nov 21, 2017

Scenes are meant to have a goal and to lead somewhere. If nothing in a scene propels the characters and story forward, or introduces a new sub-plot then of course the existing story will grow no more.

Victor Douglas said:
@ancon: Hmm, I haven't done that, sounds interesting. Have to think about it.

What I have done is spent hours literally writing page after page in a scene, then spent another session reading it over for a couple of hours... and realizing that some of the additions didn't work. All I did was to remove something I added in earlier, but that still counts as "change on a page", and it made the scene more streamlined and balanced.

But now you know why I have trouble writing lengthy works. I take away almost as much as I write...

Maryn · Nov 21, 2017

Putputt said:
Are your side characters developed? Do they have their own motivations and arcs? The side characters, when they’re fully fleshed out, should add subplots, which add complexity to the main plot.

This.

I'm not a screenwriter, but at one time I visited a screenwriting board daily. Lots of what they discussed didn't apply to novels, but there were some gems that did--and they'd add length to a novel.

Give every actor in a speaking role a chance to show the audience what s/he can do. I interpret this to mean secondary characters are not just cardboard cut-outs who exist for the main characters to address, but have their own distinct personalities and backgrounds. Make the work buddy or best friend be someone the main character would like, not just a pleasant person. Make the boss, the family members, the waiter, the landlord, the woman walking the dog at all hours be people.
Your main character has a life, not just the plot. Have her go to work, see her parents, argue with a billing department, not in detail but to illuminate character. While she's doing life-stuff, you may see an opportunity for a subplot emerge. Is she worried about getting fired? Does her mom seem unwell?
Every character is the star in his own movie. They're all working on their own needs and goals. You don't have to show their stories, but you should at a minimum show they have stories. This adds words and improves the work.
Secondary characters equals secondary plots. The best ones weave into the main plot early, tangling it before they leave it and take place off-screen, and return to resolve near the main plot's climax, complementing it. It can be simple--the romantic main couple finally agrees they cannot be together, but the best friend thinks the divorce attorney is adorable--or very complex. If you're a planner, try creating a detailed character bio sheet for secondary characters, including their backgrounds. Once you know them that well, a subplot often emerges.

Maryn, hoping that helps

insolentlad · Nov 21, 2017

Most of my 'fantasy adventure' novels weigh in around the 60,000 word mark—and that is essentially my target. It seems just about right for telling the stories. On the other hand, one of the 'mainstream' efforts came out over 80,000. I did not try to keep it as tight, explored more of the characters' everyday life, etc. I don't know if that made it better or worse!

And then there was the epic that went over 200,000 words. I do not think I could have written it straight through, as one continuous narrative. It is actually in the form of eleven more-or-less separate sections of novella or novelette length. That was manageable for me. I could think of each of these separate arcs within the overall story, concentrate on them and work through them, without worrying about cranking out a long novel all at once.

indianroads · Nov 21, 2017

For a longer story - all I can suggest is to add more situations along the way. Expand the story, explore the characters to a greater depth.

Let's say a friend and myself ride our motorcycles to Trinidad (a city about 180 miles from where I live).
A short story would be:
1. We rode to Trinidad together and had lunch.
2 We rode home.

An enhanced story would be:
1. Background information about our friendship.
2. Where and when we met and gassed up for our trip, and some talking.
3. The weather conditions, traffic on the way.
4. A gas stop along the way - maybe a mechanical issue or just a stop for coffee.
5. Arriving.
6. Lunch - something interesting / unique about the bar and grill or the people there.
7. Discussion over lunch. What we talk about.
8. The ride home with a gas stop along the way.
9. Maybe dinner together with our spouses (background about our spouses)

There's an arc - what was resolved? How has this experience changed us?

amergina · Nov 21, 2017

One way to approach writing longer might be to look at longer books you *love* and map out the main storyline and the subplots. Take a couple of chapters and really dive into them to see how and what the author did in terms of moving the conflict along or giving you background information to flesh the characters out.

Axl Prose · Nov 21, 2017

I remember a poster on here saying, don't try to make your novel longer make it wider. I didn't know what the that meant at the time but now I kinda do. Everything that's been said here will help make your story wider.

My story was a too fast, not very deep story. All talk and action. Just digging deeper in the mc's head and the overall narrative helped me out a lot.

c.m.n. · Nov 21, 2017

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I love the suggestions and the "saying". That's exactly what I want to do, make my novels wider.

I do need to practice adding a little more descriptions, flesh out my side characters more, and adding sub-plots to drive the main characters to their main goals.

I think the reason I started out writing shorts is because I wasn't much of a reader growing up. I had ADHD, which made it quite difficult for me to sit for long periods at a time. Most of the time, I was only able to sit while I was writing, and even then I could only get out 200-300 words on paper. I did write tons and tons of short stories, though.

MaeZe · Nov 21, 2017

My unqualified (which rarely stops me

) opinion: Be careful about adding filler. Making the characters wider works when they matter to the story.

What story is burning in your brain that you want to tell? What do you care about or what fantasy do you want to live vicariously?

Try Lisa Cron's Wired for Story. It might help you widen that story along with widening those characters/pieces of it.

MythMonger · Nov 22, 2017

The first draft of my WIP was 29K words, the latest (7th) is 96K. Both covered the exact same plot arc, but with each draft I added some 10-15K words. (I'd also remove some 5K words each draft through deleted scenes, but that's another topic)

Primarily, I focused on identifying new conflicts and delving more deeply into existing ones. I think that conflict is what drives a story forward more than anything else, and for me it was just plain fun to explore these new sides of my characters.

Lakey · Nov 22, 2017

MythMonger said:
Primarily, I focused on identifying new conflicts and delving more deeply into existing ones. I think that conflict is what drives a story forward more than anything else, and for me it was just plain fun to explore these new sides of my characters.

This is what has filled out my story, as well. I had some conflicts, and things getting complicated and bad for my main characters. And then I just kept thinking, how can I make things even worse for them? What if this, or that, or this other thing also happened? And then building the foundation for that thing into the story helps fill it out, give it layers of substance and complexity; you get to have multiple simultaneous threads that all come together when everything goes wrong at once.

flowerburgers · Nov 22, 2017

I get the impulse to write longer novels because they're more marketable, but I think it's a bad idea to force a story to be longer than what is called for...and, at the end of the day, the quality of the writing is what will get your book sold. In short, I wouldn't worry about it.

MaeZe · Nov 22, 2017

I am reminded of my critique group telling me to make things harder on my characters. At first I had them all best friendsy and the protag's love interest was a perfect guy. Now I have awkward culture clashes rather than new BFFs, the protagonist's wonderful boyfriend seems to have become one of the guys (it's a very sexist village) and her belief she was so sure she knew him is shattered. Her desire to change the village seems futile and useless while changing the world, though almost certainly impossible (it's sci-fi but there is no chosen one and no leader of a revolution is in this story) becomes more and more important to her anyway.

Bottom line, are you making things too easy, too neat and tidy for your characters and can you make their lives a whole lot more difficult?

I Can't Write a Long Novel (but I really want to)

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