Is it a complete Novel or collection of short novels?

[StanleyPark]

This is going to be a pretty long post since I'm having a hard time deciding if my novel is a complete novel or a collection of short novels (novellas).

My story follows 7 POV characters living in the same fantasy city dealing with everyday life issues.

Each character has their own story.

Each Character story (pov) is written as a novella (short novel).

For Example:
Character 1 POV novella: Miranda investigates the murder of a teenage girl.

Character 2 POV novella: John is a Acoholic on the verge of losing his family cuz of his drinking problem

Character 3 POV novella: Sam investigates a nearby house haunting that's causing problems for the neighborhood.

Character 4 POV novella: Steven is in involved with a hit and run accident.

Character 5 POV novella: Ryan is being framed for a murder he may or may not committed.

(There's 4 more characters but I hope you get the point lol)

Each story is written as a short story but I call it a short novel because I spent a little more time on developing the characters. The story itself however, does not need to be dragged out, so it's relatively short.

None of the character stories connect or depend on one another.

Now looking at each story I would say it's a collection of short novels but since each character story (pov) happens at the same time (dual POV) and there are character interactions amongst the POV characters and events that brings the characters together, I look at it as a complete Novel.

The only thing is, Due to each character story being written as a short story, They pov keeps going.

For Example:

POV 1: Miranda finds the teenage girl murderer and then moves on to investigate another murder case. (Same book. Different case)

The book will always end off on a cliffhanger at an event that brings all the characters together: ex: Wedding. Charity event. Birthday party. Dinner party etc;

I see it all as one novel due to character interactions amongst the POV characters and events that brings the characters together.

I see it as a collection of short novels because each character POV story does not connect to one another.

If anybody can help me out here,

Do you see this as a complete novel or do you see this as a collection of short novels?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Check out Accordian Crimes by E Annie Proulx. She does something very similar and it was marketed as a novel, for sure.

 

[The Judge]

Margaret Atwood did the same with Moral Disorder, and from memory (can't find my copy to check the blurb) I think the marketing was along the lines that it could be read as either a succession of eleven linked short stories or a novel split into eleven tales. However, I'm pretty sure that Kethani by Eric Brown which was originally written as linked short stories, was put together into one volume with minimal editing and sold as a novel.

I think in your position, I'd market it as a novel but make it clear in the blurb it's a succession of interlocking tales (I know the stories themselves don't interlock, but the characters do, which is enough.) However, I think I'd also be tempted to link the stories a little more, having overlaps of events not just characters and grand occasions, and I'd try and find a unifying overarching theme to link them, too, if there isn't one already.

Anyway, I think I'll move this over to General Writing Discussion, since it's a writing matter perhaps more than a reading one.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Martian Chronicles is actually all short stories, some only connected by it being Mars.

 

[chrispenycate]

Do the Martian Chronicles ever get classed as a novel?

On the 'Fantasy Fiction site it's classed under 'collections (and AKA the silver locusts, which doesn't help much). Similarly 'Pilgrimage', Zenna Henderson's collected stories of 'the People'. Largely because most speculative fiction at that epoch was for magazines, so shorts were very common.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Do the Martian Chronicles ever get classed as a novel?

I don't know!

 

[Wruter]

More recently John Scalzi's last two books were published first as individual novellas before being collected into a novel. So yours could even be both of these things with the range of modern publishing options available - look at what Hugh Howey did with Wool as another example: a series of novellas then a novel.

 

[LittleStar]

Cloud atlas POV's were only loosely connected. So it can be done well enough. And in your case, if very thing is taking place concurrently, then it is all one story (unless I've misread), ala Pulp Fiction. I would be fine with it as a novel, especially if I saw all the connections throughout.

 

[Phyrebrat]

If they never interact with each other or have any material connection, it would be usual to find some form of common theme or idea that links them outside the narrative. They may all experience the effects of 'x' or perhaps all have similar goals. That way you're using the stories to make a comment or observation on something. I'd be cautious about writing seven stories with no rewarding connection myself, but if you gotta write it, then you gotta write it!

pH

 

[Cathbad]

i don't know the answer, but now I'm wanting to read it!

 

[StanleyPark]

Margaret Atwood did the same with Moral Disorder, and from memory (can't find my copy to check the blurb) I think the marketing was along the lines that it could be read as either a succession of eleven linked short stories or a novel split into eleven tales. However, I'm pretty sure that Kethani by Eric Brown which was originally written as linked short stories, was put together into one volume with minimal editing and sold as a novel.

I think in your position, I'd market it as a novel but make it clear in the blurb it's a succession of interlocking tales (I know the stories themselves don't interlock, but the characters do, which is enough.) However, I think I'd also be tempted to link the stories a little more, having overlaps of events not just characters and grand occasions, and I'd try and find a unifying overarching theme to link them, too, if there isn't one already.

Anyway, I think I'll move this over to General Writing Discussion, since it's a writing matter perhaps more than a reading one.

John Grisham "Rogue Lawyer" follows a lawyer who takes on 3 separate cases.

Many fans of the book look at it as a collection of short stories since he takes a case, solves it, then moves on to the next case. All in one book.

The only connection people see is the main character himself.

But it's marketed as a Full Novel.

When it's time to write my query letter, I need to know if this work is a Novel or a collection of short stories (novels) so I can know who to contact and who not to contact.

 

[StanleyPark]

Cloud atlas POV's were only loosely connected. So it can be done well enough. And in your case, if very thing is taking place concurrently, then it is all one story (unless I've misread), ala Pulp Fiction. I would be fine with it as a novel, especially if I saw all the connections throughout.

Yes everything takes place concurrently

 

[StanleyPark]

If they never interact with each other or have any material connection, it would be usual to find some form of common theme or idea that links them outside the narrative. They may all experience the effects of 'x' or perhaps all have similar goals. That way you're using the stories to make a comment or observation on something. I'd be cautious about writing seven stories with no rewarding connection myself, but if you gotta write it, then you gotta write it!

pH

That's the thing lol the characters do interact with each other to the point where POV character 1 may start a romance with POV character 2. But her "story" doesn't have any involvement with him.

The common theme to me is "Good vs Evil" and "Survival".

I know the "good vs evil" theme is cliche but it's one of the only ones to naturally presents itself in all the stories.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Honestly - it's the agent's job to pitch it. Just be clear in any query that it's a series of interlinked stories, forming into a novel. Let them worry about the details...

 

[StanleyPark]

Honestly - it's the agent's job to pitch it. Just be clear in any query that it's a series of interlinked stories, forming into a novel. Let them worry about the details...

But doesn't "interlinked stories" mean that the stories are linked together as if they are connected?

The only loosely connection between the stories are the characters interaction with each other (relationship/friendship/enemy)

Miranda investigating a girls death has nothing to do with nor connects with Sam investigating a house haunting.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

But doesn't "interlinked stories" mean that the stories are linked together as if they are connected?

The only loosely connection between the stories are the characters interaction with each other (relationship/friendship/enemy)

Miranda investigating a girls death has nothing to do with nor connects with Sam investigating a house haunting.

But some characters meet, yes? They share a concurrent world. Unless I'm misunderstanding. That's interlinked. And, again, it's up to the agent - if they like what they sample - to decide how to take it forwards.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

When it's time to write my query letter, I need to know if this work is a Novel or a collection of short stories (novels) so I can know who to contact and who not to contact.

Whether something is a novel or a novella, novelette, or short story is a matter of length Although different people and organizations set the word count for each of these a little differently, especially when it comes to novelettes and novellas, the difference between a short story and a novel is great enough that it would probably make a poor impression on an agent or publisher if in your query letter you made it plain that you couldn't tell the difference between those two forms at least. As your book is fantasy you might want to look up the word counts as defined by SFWA since most SFF imprints use that as the standard. How much time you spend on character development is not a factor. Some short stories are all character development, and some novels are almost all action.

What you describe sounds like a collection of short fiction of some sort. You say that nothing unifies the stories but the setting, but there are some books, particularly in fantasy, where the setting is so vivid and individual and so much a factor in the plot that it can be (and often is) considered one of the characters. If this is the case with your book, then the setting might be considered enough to unify the story, and you may have a novel after all. If this is not the case, then you have a collection. Unfortunately, collections by debut authors are very hard to sell to publishers. If, as others have suggested, you can find a way to tie the stories together, you'll have a better chance of finding a publisher. But if you can't do that without compromising the integrity of the individual stories or making it look too contrived (and since none of the rest of us have read the stories, you are the only one here who can say if that is so) you should probably give serious consideration to self-publishing. A small press might be more open to a collection, but there are a lot of things that call themselves small presses but are actually author mills or outright scams, so before you sent anything out to a small press you should probably do some research (unless you are already well familiar with the publisher).

These days, self-published novellas seem to do rather well if sold individually as ebooks. (A few publishers are even experimenting with this.) The individual stories can be priced so low that readers are willing to give an unknown writer a chance. Then if and when the writer gains a following and some name recognition this way, the stories can be assembled into a collection to attract new readers.

So it might be wise to explore your options before sending out your queries.

 

[StanleyPark]

Whether something is a novel or a novella, novelette, or short story is a matter of length Although different people and organizations set the word count for each of these a little differently, especially when it comes to novelettes and novellas, the difference between a short story and a novel is great enough that it would probably make a poor impression on an agent or publisher if in your query letter you made it plain that you couldn't tell the difference between those two forms at least. As your book is fantasy you might want to look up the word counts as defined by SFWA since most SFF imprints use that as the standard. How much time you spend on character development is not a factor. Some short stories are all character development, and some novels are almost all action.

What you describe sounds like a collection of short fiction of some sort. You say that nothing unifies the stories but the setting, but there are some books, particularly in fantasy, where the setting is so vivid and individual and so much a factor in the plot that it can be (and often is) considered one of the characters. If this is the case with your book, then the setting might be considered enough to unify the story, and you may have a novel after all. If this is not the case, then you have a collection. Unfortunately, collections by debut authors are very hard to sell to publishers. If, as others have suggested, you can find a way to tie the stories together, you'll have a better chance of finding a publisher. But if you can't do that without compromising the integrity of the individual stories or making it look too contrived (and since none of the rest of us have read the stories, you are the only one here who can say if that is so) you should probably give serious consideration to self-publishing. A small press might be more open to a collection, but there are a lot of things that call themselves small presses but are actually author mills or outright scams, so before you sent anything out to a small press you should probably do some research (unless you are already well familiar with the publisher).

These days, self-published novellas seem to do rather well if sold individually as ebooks. (A few publishers are even experimenting with this.) The individual stories can be priced so low that readers are willing to give an unknown writer a chance. Then if and when the writer gains a following and some name recognition this way, the stories can be assembled into a collection to attract new readers.

So it might be wise to explore your options before sending out your queries.

Can you give an example of how the setting is looked at as a character?

I ask because the same thought came to me before when I heard about setting being the "main character".

I asked a agent, who has well known clients, a similar question regarding the setting being the main character and the response was always "If it works, go for it". And she says that's kinda her response to anything revolving around the question "could this work? Or "can I do this?" Her answer was always "if it works"

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Well, Middle Earth could be considered a character in The Lord of the Rings, since Tolkien not only describes the lands the characters pass through in such loving detail, but the events in the story are simply another chapter in a longer history, one that permeates the trilogy in ways both subtle and obvious. Sometimes that history is part of the background (the stories and songs), sometimes it's right there narrowing or broadening the possibilities of action for the characters.

Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster trilogy might be an even better example. But the best example I can think of is Kalpa Imperial by Angelica Gorodischer, translated by Ursula K. LeGuin. It's the history of an imaginary place, where the setting is not only one of the characters, it's the main character, as all the people play their small parts in the story before it passes on to others, and then still others, and what keeps you reading is watching how the city is constantly changing with the tides of history.

And she says that's kinda her response to anything revolving around the question "could this work? Or "can I do this?" Her answer was always "if it works"

That's my motto. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, either make it work or do something else that does work.

 

[Cory Swanson]

If the stories are linked and they each serve to advance a common plot or concept, I'd call it a novel. i.e. If the different pov's all offer their perspective on common or linked events, then you are using it as an story telling device.

If they are only loosely linked, I'd say you have a collection of stories. I am trying right now to connect two stories into one common book. They exist in the same world but in different times. I think that it is two novellas that are linked in world and concept, and I am thinking of it as one book.

However, what you call it is arbitrary. If your stories are intriguing and connected, I'd call it a book and leave it at that. Let the work speak for itself.