Your Novel Is Shorter Than You Think
Summary
TLDRThe video explores the importance of aligning a story's length with its narrative needs, emphasizing that novels should tell 'bigger' stories, not just longer ones. It highlights how different stories require different lengths and that each word, scene, or character detail should serve the plot, character development, or themes. The speaker advises against padding stories unnecessarily or rushing complex ideas, advocating for deliberate storytelling choices. By keeping each detail purposeful, authors can maintain engagement and control over their narrative, ensuring that every part contributes meaningfully to the whole.
Takeaways
- 📖 Novels aren't about telling a longer story, but a bigger, more complex one.
- 🧐 Writers should ask if they are using too many words to tell a simple story, or cramming a big story into too few words.
- ⏳ Storytelling involves delaying resolutions to allow ideas and emotions to take root in readers' minds.
- ⏲️ Novels benefit from time gaps between readings, allowing readers to process and reinterpret events unconsciously.
- 🔄 A novel's length allows for complexity and deep character development, as well as changes in reader perspective over time.
- 🎯 Every scene, description, and line in a novel should serve a specific purpose, whether for plot, characterization, theme, or mood.
- ✂️ Unnecessary details or padding in a novel make the story bloated and can distract from its core message.
- 🛠️ Writers have complete control over every aspect of the story, and they should use this power to ensure everything is meaningful.
- 🚶 Mundane details (like a character moving between rooms) should be removed unless they contribute to the story in some way.
- 📝 Writers should focus on meaningful details and avoid cramming irrelevant character or world-building information into the story.
Q & A
What is the main difference between a short story and a novel in terms of storytelling?
-The main difference is that a novel isn't about telling a longer story but rather a bigger story. Novels provide more space to explore complex ideas, characters, and themes, whereas short stories often focus on more concise narratives.
Why is it important to consider the length of a story while writing?
-It's important because every story has an ideal length to be told in. Stretching a short story into a novel or cramming a longer story into fewer words can lead to issues, like unnecessary scenes or a rushed plot.
How does the time a reader spends with a novel affect their perception of the story?
-When a reader puts down a novel and returns later, the time spent away allows them to process and reinterpret the story. This marinating effect can change how they view events and characters, giving the story more depth.
What are the risks of writing a novel that is too long or too short?
-If a novel is too long, it may contain unnecessary details or scenes that slow down the narrative. If it's too short, the story may feel rushed, and key elements may not be fully explored or developed.
What is the role of 'delay' in storytelling, especially in novels?
-Delay in storytelling helps build tension and engagement. Introducing an idea and allowing time before resolving it gives the reader space to reflect and emotionally invest in the narrative. It's akin to comedic timing, where timing is crucial for impact.
How can a writer use the length of a novel to their advantage?
-A writer can use the novel's length to explore complex characters, develop intricate plots, and create a richer, more immersive experience. The time a reader spends with a novel gives the story room to breathe and allows for deeper emotional engagement.
What common mistakes do writers make when they don't use a novel's length effectively?
-Writers may include unnecessary scenes, overlong dialogue, or irrelevant descriptions that don’t advance the plot or deepen characterization. This leads to bloated narratives or, conversely, to stories that feel rushed and underdeveloped.
What is the key to determining what details to include in a novel?
-Every detail should serve the story in some way, either by advancing the plot, revealing character, or enhancing themes and mood. If a detail does not contribute meaningfully to the story, it should be reconsidered.
Why is it important for a writer to control the pacing and structure of a scene?
-Controlling pacing and structure ensures that every scene has purpose, whether it moves the plot forward, develops characters, or contributes to the story's mood. Without careful control, scenes can feel like filler or detract from the overall narrative.
How should writers approach world-building and character details in their novels?
-Writers should focus on world-building and character details that serve the story, rather than adding elements just for interest. Extraneous details can clutter the narrative, so it’s important to ensure that everything ties back to the core plot and themes.
Outlines
📚 The Importance of Novel Length
This paragraph discusses the significance of the length of novels in storytelling. It emphasizes that novels are not about extending the length of a story but about expanding its depth. The speaker highlights the importance of the delay between establishing an idea and resolving it, which is crucial for all forms of storytelling, including novels, short stories, and jokes. The ideal length of a story is determined by the time needed for readers to engage with the narrative and the characters. The paragraph also touches on how the length of a novel allows for complexity and the reader's ability to process and reinterpret the story over time, which is different from shorter formats read in one sitting.
🖋️ Writing to the Novel's Advantage
Paragraph 2 focuses on the idea that every aspect of a novel, including its length, should serve the story. It argues against writing a novel that is either too short or too long for the story it's trying to tell. The speaker advises that every moment in a novel should contribute to plot progression, exposition, character development, theme, or mood. The paragraph also discusses the importance of not including unnecessary details and how writers have control over every aspect of their story, including scene setting and character descriptions. The speaker suggests that writers should focus on what details are necessary for the story and avoid including details just because they find them interesting.
🎥 Wrapping Up the Discussion
In this concluding paragraph, the speaker summarizes the video's content and hopes that the advice provided is useful to the viewers. They express a desire to have offered valuable insights and invite viewers to explore more of their writing advice videos and subscribe to their channel. The speaker thanks the audience for watching and signs off, indicating the end of the video.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Storytelling
💡Novel
💡Length
💡Resolution
💡Character Development
💡World Building
💡Exposition
💡Theme
💡Plot Progress
💡Line Editing
💡Chapter Structure
Highlights
Novels aren't about telling a longer story, they're about telling a bigger story.
Every story has an ideal length to be told in, with a proper delay between establishing ideas and resolving them.
The time readers spend away from the novel, between sittings, affects how they process and reinterpret the story.
Novels allow for more complexity and depth, taking advantage of the reader's time away from the text to shape their understanding.
Writing to hit a specific word count (e.g., 80,000 words) can lead to bloated stories or rushed narratives.
If you're using unnecessary dialogue or scenes to pad the story, it's a sign that the story might not be suited for the length.
Every detail in a novel, including descriptions of characters, should serve the story in some meaningful way.
If a scene or line doesn't advance the plot, develop characters, or convey theme, it should be reconsidered or removed.
Writers control every aspect of the story, and every moment should be deliberate and contribute to the narrative.
Line editing is crucial to tighten writing, often requiring the removal of unnecessary words or details.
Chapters should have a mini arc that contributes to the larger story, ensuring that scenes are purposeful.
Excessive world-building or character dossiers can lead to unnecessary details being forced into the story.
The focus should always be on how world-building and character details serve the story, not just on their inherent interest.
Cutting out non-essential elements that don't fit the story's purpose is a good starting point for refining a novel.
Each word and scene should have intention, serving to engage the reader and contribute meaningfully to the plot or themes.
Transcripts
you need to ask yourself are you taking
880,000 words to tell a 30,000 word
story novels aren't about telling a
longer story they're about telling a
bigger story
66537
56538
50 damn it I lost count so you're
writing along just at that magical
moment where your Google doc crosses the
like threshold between Nolla and novel
as stipulated in the UN resolution
governing the length of works of fiction
you've written something that's 880,000
words long or 70,000 words or 990,000
words or whatever length will stop
people from arguing about how many words
a novel is but have you given much
thought to the length of your story or
are you just writing towards the magic
number that you have in your mind today
we're going to talk about the length of
novels the amount of time it takes to
tell them and about whether your writing
is actually serving that l this is
something I've thought a lot about
recently and I found it a great way to
orient everything from your world
building to character development to
even how you write your Pros one of the
fundamental elements of Storytelling is
delaying having time pass between
establishing an idea in your reader's
mind and bringing some kind of
resolution to that idea this is
important whether you're writing a novel
a short story flash fiction or even just
telling a joke there's a reason that
there's always a delay between me asking
you what's high in the middle and round
on both
ends and then me telling you that it's
Ohio if I deliver the punchline too
quickly it ruins the joke this is
comedic timing the same principles that
make comedic timing work also explain
why novels are as long as they are any
story is going to have an ideal amount
of time to be told in you can't just
plunk a character and a conflict into
your reader's mind and then immediately
solve it it takes time for ideas to take
root for the readers to pick up on
subtle emotional cues for them to see
who the characters are by the actions
that they take every story has an ideal
length to be told in an ideal delay
between letting the reader know what the
story is about and letting them know how
it ends the kind of story you tell in a
flash fiction piece is very different
from the kind of story you tell in a
short story or in a novel different
stories require different lengths of
time to tell there's also a certain
marinating process that takes place with
a novel the time that a reader spends
with an idea will change how they feel
about that idea novels are interesting
because they are generally read across
multiple sittings which gives the reader
mind time to process and reinterpret
what is happening in the story you'll
see this with events in your real life
as well how often have you been mad or
upset about something and then you sleep
on it and wake up with a different
perspective if a day has passed between
when somebody has read a chapter of a
novel and when they come back to read
the next one that time is going to
change how they think about it they're
going to have a different perspective
they might not be consciously thinking
about the novel in that time span but
unconsciously they are probably thinking
about it on some level these elements
all weave together in a novel you have a
lot of space to get complexity across to
the reader and you also have the benefit
of time for the reader to digest much of
that complexity the fact that the reader
is going to put a novel down and go do
something else is going to fundamentally
change how they feel about that story
and it should affect how you write that
novel the length of a novel is not just
about creating a longer work it's a
deliberate tactic that you can use to
your advantage these features brought
about by a novel's length allow you to
tell different stories than you can with
short or flash fiction which is
generally read in one sitting it's not
just about creating Intrigue and then
delaying them for 50,000 words until you
get to the climax at the end that's not
how you write a novel that's a recipe
for failure problems start to creep in
when you don't use a novel's length to
your advantage novels aren't about
telling a longer story they're about
telling a bigger story you need to ask
yourself are you taking 80,000 words to
tell a 30,000 word story or are you
trying to cram a 150,000 words story
into 80,000 words both situations will
create problems the former because
you're drawing out a story way longer
than it needs to be and the latter
because you're not giving the story
proper room to breathe you're going to
be rushing to get it all in in the
length that you've given yourself this
is the tail wagging the dog it's you
fighting against the length of the
medium rather than using it to your
advantage a story that is too short to
be a novel is going to be bloated there
will be unnecessary scenes dialogue
exchanges that go on for way too long
scenes that start early and end way too
late if you feel you have room in your
novel for anything meaningless or you
feel you need to Pat it in some way then
you don't have a novel length story
every moment of your story needs to be a
deliberate move towards plot progress or
Exposition or characterization or
relaying theme or setting the mood if
you pull out a single line in your novel
and it doesn't do any of those things
then you have to ask why is it in there
in the first place you shouldn't
describe the color of your protagonist
eyes unless it benefits the story in
some way unless removing it will hurt
the novel everything you pull the
reader's attention to should be
important should have some kind of
meaning now the response to this is
going to be well the reader needs to
know what my character looks like and my
response to that is why have you
designed the physical appearance of your
protagonist in a way that doesn't serve
the story why do they have any physical
IAL feature that doesn't help you get
your message across the reader should be
so engaged by the meaningful details
that you're giving them that anything
you don't describe anything that isn't
actually important they will forget
about and they won't care about because
you've given them a bunch of stuff to
care about I think writers sometimes
forget how much control they have over
their own stories you control every
aspect of it and every aspect needs to
serve the story in some way way you have
control over how scenes are set when we
enter when we leave what the characters
look at what they smell like what they
notice if the characters walking from
one room to another room doesn't do
anything to characterize or move the
plot or do anything except move them
from point A to point B you have the
power to change how those scenes are set
up you can change those scenes to the
point where you don't need to show any
of that useless information all of this
needs to be contrived in a way to serve
your story anything that doesn't is
going to be dead weight it's like if you
were playing chess and you're like okay
every fifth move I'm just going to do
something random that doesn't actually
serve My overall strategy you're given a
certain amount of opportunities to
achieve your goal and you're just
arbitrarily throwing some of them away
you have 80 or 100 or however many
thousand words to tell your novel story
why would you waste any of them you can
apply this idea to multiple points
within the writing process a major part
of line editing is getting rid of
unnecessary words sentences can often be
shifted around to cut a few words from
them and tightening up writing this way
is often a great help in improving the
flow of your Pros having scene and
chapter level structure is a big help as
well if there's always a goal a sort of
mini Arc within a chapter and that Arc
is somehow related to the main plot then
it's a good sign that you've written a
meaningful scene and you're not just
having the characters kill time until
the ending this is also why I'm not a
huge fan of these exercises where you do
a lot of World building or you create
these character dossas before you start
writing where you fill in all these
details about your characters things
like that what can happen here is you
create a lot of details that you then
feel obligated to shove into the novel
setting and character information should
serve the story not just be interesting
these are details that you need to get
across not just ones that you want to
get across now don't take this as a
discouragement against doing character
sheets or World building or even
outlining in general before you start
writing I think if you like to do those
things you should do them but you should
always be focused on how does this
relate to the story how do these details
serve the story what details do I need
overall I think looking at your novel In
This Way gives you a really clear path
of what should stay and what should go
there's bigger harder to figure out
questions here of what exactly do you
want to tell in your story but
eliminating anything that obviously
doesn't fit anything that obviously
doesn't have a purpose is a good
starting point just like this is a good
ending point for this video so there you
have it I hope you enjoyed this video
and found the advice in it useful I hope
I didn't say anything that wasn't useful
if you want to see more stuff like this
you can check out all my other writing
advice related videos and subscribe to
my channel thanks for watching and I'll
see you next time
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