What is a Novella?

[PabloQ]

Is there really such a thing as a novella? The Old Man and the Sea is described as a novella on its cover and many of Steinbeck's shorter works are described as novellas as well. I've seen Daisy Miller by Henry James described both as a novella and a short story. There are some really long short stories (The Secret Sharer, Bartleby the Scrivener) and some really short novels (Of Mice and Men). So people, what's the difference between a short story and novella and a novel?

[mayneverhave]

Is there really such a thing as a novella? The Old Man and the Sea is described as a novella on its cover and many of Steinbeck's shorter works are described as novellas as well. I've seen Daisy Miller by Henry James described both as a novella and a short story. There are some really long short stories (The Secret Sharer, Bartleby the Scrivener) and some really short novels (Of Mice and Men). So people, what's the difference between a short story and novella and a novel?

Not to nitpick but I was under the impression that Of Mice and Men was a novella, and not a novel.

Overall, I believe it is mainly the amount of pages that differentiates between novel/novella/short story. Intent, however, also has something to do with it as there are quite a few long short stories (Joyce's "The Dead" springs to mind) that reach novella length but are still considered short stories.

Ultimately though, who cares really? Labels like novel/novella/short story are helpful but not vital to enjoying or analyzing a work - they are purely for technical, sorting purposes.

[JBI]

Basically, it is a classification tool for long short-stories, or short novels. Just a way of stacking them on the shelf better.

In truth, most seem closer to novels than short stories, but they are usually too short to have the development common in longer works

[mercymyqueen]

Novella is the prettiest word; use that one.

[Remarkable]

The novel includes a wider number of characters,timeline and space.The novella does less and the short story much lesser.I've done this at school,so it's unobjectable:D...

[kelby_lake]

Novella is one story thread, no sub plots.

[bree]

The novella as Kelby Lake states is a fictional narrative restricted to a single event. It can be of any length. The short story is usually between 1,600 - 20,000 words and the novel 60 or 70,000 - 200,000 words.

[JBI]

It isn't restricted to one event, though usually is. There is no "It must be" there though. The deciding factor is generally the length, being that they are thin, but usually too thick to be published as a short story.