Novella

Hello everyone, I’m back to inform you that I am starting a new story while I am working on Valhalla. It will be a novella that I will throw on ebook when it is finished and edited. In case you don’t know what a novella is it is shorter than a novel.

Short Story – A story with a fully developed theme but significantly shorter and less elaborate than a novel.

Novella – A short novel or long short story.

Novel – A fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism.

A short story is anywhere from 1500 to 30,000 words. A novella is anywhere from 30,000 to 60,000 words. A novel is anywhere over 60,000 words. In order to fit within a type of book, it would be a good idea to watch out for your word count when writing.

Now this novella is a type of rapture story. A massive city called Lumen Magnum in a large country called Marlela is home to a religion known as the Cristu faith. The entire country is run by the religious order ruled by a Papa Regem, a King. I borrowed heavily the religious rankings of the Catholic faith but because I need to focus on something specific in this story I won’t be going over it.

The story will be revolved around faith and how people perceive it and led to perceive it. The order is using the religion to control the masses, enslaving people who are different and murdering those who don’t convert. The Seraphim, with the permission of the mighty one above them, have allowed 7 demons to find 7 human hosts to purge the city from the world to hopefully save Eldara, the world, from damnation. In my story, the angels of Hevellum and the demons of Infernos have a much better relationship than most other interpretations of the two opposing sides. Some obviously don’t like each other but it is still somewhat a healthy relationship.

I participated in a contest on Wattpad, I lost, but a couple readers came forth wondering if I was ever going to go more in depth with the story because they really liked it. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I should because it didn’t win but I did like what I wrote. So my husband suggested writing it as a short story and sell it as an ebook for now, maybe with any income I can get from the story I can use the money to self-publish Valhalla. So I decided to turn it into a novella, mainly because after planning it I don’t think it can be short enough for a short story length book.

The story currently has no title nor a summary. I do have a placeholder title and I have an idea for a summary but I plan to get a second opinion first.

I have already done my research on Angels and Demons and Religion, build the world a bit, and finished up writing story bullets. The next step is the outline and then begin writing. I am still thinking about sketching out my characters so I can get a better visual on their appearance but I’m not sure yet. I will be sharing the progress here and on my YouTube account.

In case anyone is curious I do plan to post only the first 2 chapters of this novella. It is a lot shorter than Valhalla and won’t have as many chapters either which is why I will only post 2.

I think that will be all I will go over for this week. If you want to know more about this novella or Valhalla for that matter then please follow my blog. If you have any questions please let me know, I definitely want to hear them. Thank you so much for the read and please stay tuned for next Wednesday for another post on my novella.

Before Writing Part 5: Types of Readers

Before Writing Part 1: World Creating

Before Writing Part 2: Creating Races

Before Writing Part 3: Creating Characters

Before Writing Part 4: Who Is Your Character

Now before writing your story there is something that needs to be answered, who is this book for? Who will be reading this book? Can everyone read your book? The answer is, it depends on you and your story.

There are many types of readers out there from Children to Adults and then each age group has their preffered genre from Fiction to Non-Fiction.

Types of Readers:

— Age:

1. Children
2. Middlegrade
3. Young Adult
4. New Adult
5. Adult

Genre:

— Fiction:

1. Classic Fiction: Fiction that has become part of an accepted literary canon, widely taught in schools.
2. Comics/Graphic Novel: Comic magazine or book based on a sequence of pictures (often hand drawn) and few words.
3. Crime/Detective Fiction: Fiction about a crime, how the criminal gets caught, and the repercussions of the crime.
4. Fable: Legendary, supernatural tale demonstrating a useful truth.
5. Fairy Tale: Story about fairies or other magical creatures.
6. Fan Fiction: Fiction written by a fan of, and featuring characters from, a particular TV series, movie, or book.
7. Fantasy: Fiction with subplot(s), theme(s), major and minor characters, in which the narrative is presented in verse form (usually free verse).
8. Folklore: The songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a people or “folk” as handed down by word of mouth.
9. Historical Fiction: Story with fictional characters and events in an historical setting.
10. Horror: Fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread and sometimes fear in both the characters and the reader.
11. Humor: Usually a fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement, meant to entertain and sometimes cause intended laughter; but can be contained in all genres.
12. Legend: Story, sometimes of a national or folk hero, that has a basis in fact but also includes imaginative material.
13. Magical Realism: Story where magical or unreal elements play a natural part in an otherwise realistic environment.
14. Meta Fiction/Romantic Irony: Uses self-reference to draw attention to itself as a work of art while exposing the “truth” of a story.
15. Mystery: Fiction dealing with the solution of a crime or the revealing of secrets.
16. Mythology: Legend or traditional narrative, often based in part on historical events, that reveals human behavior and natural phenomena by its symbolism; often pertaining to the actions of the gods.
17. Mythopoeia: Fiction in which characters from religious mythology, traditional myths, folklore and/or history are recast into a re-imagined realm created by the author.
18. Picture Book: Picture storybook is a book with very little words and a lot of pictures; picture stories are usually for children.
19. Realistic Fiction: Story that is true to life.
20. Science Fiction: Story based on the impact of actual, imagined, or potential science, often set in the future or on other planets.
21. Short Story: Fiction of great brevity, usually supports no subplots.
22. Suspense/Thriller: Fiction about harm about to befall a person or group and the attempts made to evade the harm.
23. Tall Tale: Humorous story with blatant exaggerations, such as swaggering heroes who do the impossible with nonchalance.
24. Western: Fiction set in the American Old West frontier and typically in the late eighteenth to late nineteenth century.

— Non-Fiction:

1. Biography: Narrative of a person’s life; when the author is also the subject, this is an autobiography.
2. Essay: A short literary composition that reflects the author’s outlook or point.
3. Owner’s Manual/Instructional Manual/User’s Guide: An instructional book or booklet that is supplied with consumer products such as vehicles, home appliances, firearms, toys and computer peripherals.
4. Journalism: Reporting on news and current events.
5. Lab Report: A report of an experiment.
6. Memoir: Factual story that focuses on a significant relationship between the writer and a person, place, or object; reads like a short novel.
7. Narrative Non-Fiction/Personal Narrative: Factual information about a significant event presented in a format that tells a story.
8. Reference Book: Such as a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, almanac, or atlas.
9. Self-Help Book: Information with the intention of instructing readers on solving personal problems.
10. Speech: Public address or discourse.
11. Textbook: Authoritative and detailed factual description of a topic.

— Fiction Subgenre:

1. Adventure
2. – Epic
3. – Imaginary Voyage
4. – Lost World
5. – Men’s Adventure
6. – Milesian Tale
7. – Picaresque Novel
8. – Robinsonade
9. – – Apocalyptic
10. – Sea Story
11. – Subterranean Fiction
12. Brit Lit
13. Children’s Literature
14. – Young Adult Fiction
15. – – Class S
16. – – Light Novel
17. Education Fiction
18. – Campus Novel
19. – – Campus Murder Mystery
20. – School Story
21. – Romance
22. – Varsity Novel
23. Erotic Fiction
24. – Erotic Romance
25. – Women’s Erotica
26. Experimental Fiction
27. – Antinovel
28. – Ergodic Literature
29. Graphic Novel
30. Historical Fiction
31. – Historical Romance
32. – – Metahistorical Romance
33. – Historical Whodunnit
34. – Holocaust Novel
35. – Plantation Tradition
36. – Prehistoric Fiction
37. – Regency Novel
38. – – Regency Romance
39. – Contradiction
40. Literary Fiction
41. Literary Nonsense
42. Mathematical Fiction
43. Metafiction
44. Non-Fiction Novel
45. – Bildungsroman
46. – Biographical Novel
47. – – Autobiographical Novel
48. – – – Semi-Autobiographical Novel
49. – – – – I Novel
50. – Slave Narrative
51. – – Contemporary Slave Narrative
52. – – Neo-Slave Narrative
53. Occupational Fiction
54. – Hollywood Novel
55. – Lab Lit
56. – Legal Thriller
57. – Medical Fiction
58. – – Medical Romance
59. – Musical Fiction
60. – Sports Fiction
61. Philosophical Fiction
62. – Existentialist Fiction
63. – Novel of Ideas
64. – Philosophical Horror
65. – Platonic Dialogue
66. Political Fiction
67. – Political Satire
68. Pulp Fiction
69. Quantum Fiction
70. Religous Fiction
71. – Christian Fiction
72. – – Christian Science Fiction
73. – – Contemporary Christian Fiction
74. – Islamic Fiction
75. – Jewish Fiction
76. Saga
77. – Family Saga
78. Speculative Fiction
79. – Fantasy
80. – – Epic/High Fantasy
81. – – Hard Fantasy
82. – – Historical Fantasy
83. – – – Prehistoric Fantasy
84. – – – Medieval Fantasy
85. – – – Wuxia
86. – – Low Fantasy
87. – – Urban Fantasy
88. – – – Paranormal Fantasy
89. – – Comic Fantasy
90. – – Contemporary Fantasy
91. – – Dark Fantasy
92. – – Fantasy of Manners
93. – – Heroic Fantasy
94. – – Magic Realism
95. – – Mythic
96. – – Paranormal Fantasy
97. – – Shenmo Fantasy
98. – – Superhero Fantasy
99. – – Sword and Sorcery
100. Horror
101. – – Body Horror
102. – – – Splatterpunk
103. – – Erotic
104. – – Gothic Fiction
105. – – – Southern Fiction
106. – – Psychological
107. – – Supernatural/Paranormal
108. – – – Cosmic(Lovecraftian)
109. – – – Ghost Story
110. – – – Monster Literature
111. – – – – Jiangshi Fiction
112. – – – – Vampire Fiction
113. – – – – Werewolf Fiction
114. – – – Occult Detective
115. Science Fiction
116. – – Alien Invasion
117. – – Post-Apocalyptic
118. – – Cyberpunk Derivatives(Punk)
119. – – – Cyberpunk
120. – – – – Biopunk
121. – – – – Nanopunk
122. – – – – Postcyberpunk
123. – – – Steampunk
124. – – – – Atompunk
125. – – – – Clockpunk
126. – – – – Dieselpunk
127. – – – Dystopian
128. – – – Hard Science Fiction
129. – – – Military Science Fiction
130. – – – Parallel Universe(Alternative Universe)
131. – – – – Alternative History
132. – – – Scientific Romance
133. – – – Soft Science Fiction
134. – – – Space Opera
135. Speculative Cross-Genre Fiction
136. – Bizarro Fiction
137. – Climate Fiction
138. – Dying Earth
139. – Science Fantasy
140. – – Planetary Romance
141. – – – Sword and Planet
142. – – Slipstream
143. – – Weird Fiction
144. – – – New Weird
145. Suspense Fiction
146. – Crime Fiction
147. – Detective Fiction
148. – Gong’an Fiction
149. – Mystery Fiction
150. Thriller
151. – Mystery Fiction
152. – Legal Thriller
153. – Medical Thriller
154. – Political Thriller
155. – – Spy Fiction
156. – Psychological Thriller
157. – Techno-Thriller
158. Tragedy
159. – Melodrama
160. Urban Fiction
161. Westerns
162. Women’s Fiction
163. – Class S
164. – Femslash
165. – Matron Literature
166. – Romance Novel
167. – Yaoi
168. – Yuri
169. Workplace Tell-All
170. General Cross-Genre
171. – Historical Romance
172. – Juvenile Fantasy
173. – LGBT Pulp Fiction
174. – – Gay Male Pulp Fiction
175. – – Lesbian Pulp Fiction
176. – – Lesbian Erotica Fiction
177. – Paranormal Romance
178. – Romantic Fantasy
179. – Tragicomedy

— Non-Fiction Subgenre:

1. Autograph
2. Biography
3. – Memoir
4. – – Autobiography
5. – – – Autobiographical Novel
6. – – – Spiritual Autobiography
7. – – Bildungsroman
8. – – Slave Narrative
9. – – – Contemporary Slave Narrative
10. – – – Neo-Slave Narrative
11. Commentary
12. Creative Nonfiction
13. Critique
14. – Cannonical Criticism
15. – Form Criticism
16. – Higher Criticism
17. – Historical Criticism
18. – Lower Criticism
19. – Narrative Criticism
20. – Postmodern Criticism
21. – Psychological Criticism
22. – Redaction Criticism
23. – Rhetorical Criticism
24. – Socio-Scientific Criticism
25. – Source Criticism
26. – Textual Criticism
27. Cult Literature
28. Diaries and Journals
29. Didactic
30. –  Dialectic
31. – Rabbinic
32. – Aporetic
33. – Elenctic
34. Erotic Literature
35. Essay/Treatise
36. History
37. – Academic History
38. – Genealogy
39. – Narrative
40. – People’s History
41. – Popular History
42. – Official History
43. – Narrative History
44. – Whig History
45. Lament
46. Law
47. – Ceremonial
48. – Family
49. – Levitical
50. – Moral
51. – Natural
52. – Royal Decree
53. – Social
54. Letter
55. Manuscript
56. Philosophy
57. – Metaphysics
58. Poetry
59. Religious Text
60. – Apocalyptic
61. – Apologetics
62. – Chant
63. – Confession
64. – Covenant
65. – Creed
66. – Epistle
67. – – Pauline Epistle
68. – – General Epistle
69. – – Encyclical
70. – Gospel
71. – Homily
72. – Koan
73. – Lectionary
74. – Liturgy
75. – Mystiscism
76. – Occult Literature
77. – Prayer
78. – Philosophy
79. – – Philosophical Theology
80. – – Philosophy of Religion
81. – – Religious Epistemology
82. – Prophecy
83. – – Blessing/Curse
84. – – Messianic Prophecy
85. – – Divination
86. – – Oracle
87. – – – Woe Oracle
88. – – Preditcions
89. – – Vision
90. – Revelation
91. – – Natural Revelation
92. – – Special Revelation
93. – Scripture
94. – – Buddhist Texts
95. – – – Lotus Sutra
96. – – – Tripitaka
97. – – Christian Literature
98. – – – Apocrypha
99. – – – Encyclical
100. – – – New Testament
101. – – – Old Testament
102. – – – Patristic
103. – – – – Anti-Nicene
104. – – – – Post Nicene
105. – – – Psalms
106. – – – – Imprecatory Psalm
107. – – – Pseudepigrapha
108. – – Hindu Literature
109. – – – Bhagavad Gita
110. – – – Vedas
111. – – Islamic literature
112. – – – Haddith
113. – – – Quran
114. – – Jewish Literature
115. – – – Hebrew Poetry
116. – Song
117. – – Dirge
118. – – Hymn
119. – Sutra
120. – Theology
121. – – Apologetics
122. – – Biblical Theology
123. – – Cosmology
124. – – Christology
125. – – Ecclesiology
126. – – Eschatology
127. – – Hamartiology
128. – – Pneumatology
129. – – Mariology
130. – – Natural Theology
131. – – Soteriology
132. – – Theology Proper
133. – Wisdom Literature
134. Scientific Writing
135. Testament
136. True Crime

Now as you can see their are A LOT of Genres and Subgenres for reading and writing. Think of your story carefully, look up what each of these genres mean and what they stand for and see if that is where your story fits. I believe a few more genres were created in the past couple of years such as Fae stories but I have not read one so I am not sure exactly what they contain.

To be honest you can’t just write a book and expect everyone to read it especially when there is a specific genre involved with your story. I have noticed that there are authors out there that purposely put the wrong genre on their books because they don’t like the genres their books belong to. For example you wrote a story that has Romance and Crime Fiction in the obvious forefront of your story but you refuse to see it and say it is Supernatural Fiction instead even though there is nothing supernatural related in your story. Not only are you stubborn in what your story actually belongs to but you are also lying to readers in what your story contains. Now you could say, well they could just read the synopsis of the book to see what it contains. There is another problem, it is surprisingly easy to make your synopsis sound like something else, not to mention your book is found in a section you think your story belongs to. Own up to what your story really is, if everyone is seeing it as a different genre then go back and look at your story again, read other books in the genre you want your story to be in and see what it is missing.

  Next is determining who is capable of reading your book. Now Children are very young and normally fall under 7 years of age. Simple or even small words should be enough for them along with a story they can understand. It can be a story to help teach them like simple education, life that is relatable to them and to help them understand and help them cope at such a young age, and the usual good versus evil stories or just fun little adventures.

  Middlegrade is for much older children that normally fall between 8 and 13 years of age. Small words are no longer necessary but you are free to continue using simple words but do not insult their intelligence, now it is time to use a bit of a wider range of words. Stories begin to be much more relatable and complex, stories that help encourage them to try new things and to never give up trying. You can continue writing stories of the good versus evil approach but as I said, it is time to go a bit more complex with the characters. Just because is not a good enough reason anymore, especially for Middlegrade stories, you can try and write one but some of them will get bored with the story if that will be your only approach to writing a Middlegrade story.

  Next up is Young Adult or YA readers, they normally fall between 14 and 18 years of age. Simple and small words are pretty much pointless, especially as some may only see these words as you insulting their intellience. Begin broadening the use of your words, characters, and story. Relatable and empowering stories is what these guys enjoy from what I have gathered so far but please becareful with how you tell your stories and characters as some may end up taking it as gospel for what the world could truly be. Don’t tell young girls to hate and distrust men, don’t tell young boys to beat and belittle people of another race nor gender unless it is to show those characters are in the wrong but if you won’t show that they will see it as maybe this is okay in society. Here in these stories you are also free to be a little racy if you want.

  New Adult is something I heard of recently and from what I have gathered they fall between the ages of 19 and 26 years of age. Now as I’m sure you know where I am going with this, you are free to increaese and broaden yourself even further, even be racy with your story if you want. You can begin to tell a story to mean something or just tell a story to tell a story, the choice of what will be up to you.

  Lastly we have Adult which are readers older then 27 years of age. Here you have much more freedom in characters, writing, and story telling. These readers should be capable of handling a lot more than younger readers but still treat certain topics with care as lately some people are becoming easily offended with certain topics but the way how I see it, there are small warnings and reviews on books and if they choose to ignore it then it is on them, not you, but that is of course my opinion.

You have plenty of references out there to see what can come from each genre and reader type, some authors even go a bit more with what can go in a book, especially Middlegrade and Young Adult books as the authors believe that younger readers have more intellect to handle certain topics than readers before. Go ahead and write your story but you must understand what your story falls under, IT WIL NOT be done for you.

If you guys have any questions about what I just went over please feel free to ask. I hope you liked my little insight on types of readers, I honestly can’t wait to hear your opinions on this. Please stay tune for next Wednesday for another post. Thank you all so much for reading and please have a wonderful day.