Literature questions

[sret]

My whole life I've wanted to be a writer. I don't necessarily choose to be let's say a novelist as a profession, I like it better as a hobby.

I have yet to actually finish a novel, but I'm certain I will get to it when I feel ready. However, yesterday I found some inspiration and I have a short story in mind that I would like to write.

Where I live, the word for novel is "roman" (which is very common throughout europe) and we actually call shorter stories "novels". However, I don't recall ever hearing what a shorter story is called in english so I looked this up today, just to find that it's simply called..a "short story".

Now this doesn't sound right to me so I decided to delve further into this and found out about things like "novellas" and "novelettes". Turns out there's a lot of weird rules as to how you should write these differing kinds of stories and especially how long they should be..judged by the amount of words. Am I really supposed to count the amount of words I put into my story? I surely hope there's something that can do this for me because I certainly don't feel like counting 100000 words by hand should I ever decide to write a novel.

Could anybody who actually writes professionally, or strives to do so, fill me in on what the norm for these things is? It would be greatly appreciated. And do I really have to follow all these guidelines etc? Can't I just write it however the heck I want to? Because that's what I intend to do.

[PeterL]

All word processing programs have a built in counter for words and characters. It usually is in the same "tools" menu as the spellchecker. Then there is the page count method, which is what publishers really care about: one page equals 1500 characters or 250 words.

The history of those terms and how they have changed in interesting.

[cafolini]

My whole life I've wanted to be a writer. I don't necessarily choose to be let's say a novelist as a profession, I like it better as a hobby.

I have yet to actually finish a novel, but I'm certain I will get to it when I feel ready. However, yesterday I found some inspiration and I have a short story in mind that I would like to write.

Where I live, the word for novel is "roman" (which is very common throughout europe) and we actually call shorter stories "novels". However, I don't recall ever hearing what a shorter story is called in english so I looked this up today, just to find that it's simply called..a "short story".

Now this doesn't sound right to me so I decided to delve further into this and found out about things like "novellas" and "novelettes". Turns out there's a lot of weird rules as to how you should write these differing kinds of stories and especially how long they should be..judged by the amount of words. Am I really supposed to count the amount of words I put into my story? I surely hope there's something that can do this for me because I certainly don't feel like counting 100000 words by hand should I ever decide to write a novel.

Could anybody who actually writes professionally, or strives to do so, fill me in on what the norm for these things is? It would be greatly appreciated. And do I really have to follow all these guidelines etc? Can't I just write it however the heck I want to? Because that's what I intend to do.

Every culture has all kinds of rules based on the aberrations of the abundant fartcatchers that piggyback on the works of writers. Just write and don't worry about outlines or word count or anything that places idiotic stumbling blocks on your art. Who cares? You can't really determine the length of what you are going to write without sacrificing and having to compromise your work unnecessarily.

[LitNetIsGreat]

My whole life I've wanted to be a writer. I don't necessarily choose to be let's say a novelist as a profession, I like it better as a hobby.

I wouldn't worry about any of the word count stuff because it's virtually impossible to make any money from writing anyway, even if you are really good. It's fine as a hobby, but in terms of a profession I would honestly just forget about it.

[Alexander III]

http://i.qkme.me/1t0m.jpg

[sret]

Thank you, PeterL and cafolini, that was enlightening and helpful. However, I'm still wondering what I would call a shorter story when I tell people about it. What is the most common expression to use?

Neely; you're right, and yes I realize that. I did say I only intend it to be a hobby and that's the plan I'm gonna stick to.


Alexander III; why would you doubt my sincerity? I'm feeling a bit hurt now!

[hillwalker]

However, I'm still wondering what I would call a shorter story when I tell people about it. What is the most common expression to use?

How about "A short story that's shorter than a longer short story" - honestly, if you get hung up on such trivialities you're unlikely ever to get around to actually writing anything.

As cafolini advises, forget about the exact terminology - who cares? JUST WRITE.

H

[sret]

How about "A short story that's shorter than a longer short story" - honestly, if you get hung up on such trivialities you're unlikely ever to get around to actually writing anything.

As cafolini advises, forget about the exact terminology - who cares? JUST WRITE.

H


I do tend to get caught up in details, it's an OCD thing. But fair enough, I'll try to let this one go.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Short story, novellla or novel is really all you need to consider.