Well, I ran across one particular video that made the vortex pick up speed, and three hours later, I had a new story idea firmly planted in my oddly-shaped noggin. I put the novel aside, and started on what I thought was going to be a short story. Little did I know that it was going to turn into my very first novella.
According to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America guidelines for its Nebula awards (so says Wikipedia), these are their word count guidelines for different types of stories:
Novel: Over 40,000 words (that seems kinda short, but okay)
Novella: 17,500 to 40,000 words
Novelette: 7,500 to 17,500 words
Short Story: Under 7,500 words
Most of my short stories have ended up being 3,500 and 5,000 words, so they fit nicely into their category. I've also written a ton of flash fiction (short stories that are between 300-1,000 words), but other than my novels, I'd never written anything longer than 5K.
This story, which I titled Splits, ended up at 19K+ words...a novella. Aaaaaaannnnddd, I loved writing it! Short stories are a blast to write, and this one was an absolute joy. I think there might be some more novellas in my future!
Anywhoooo, here it is, if you're interested (and you have to read it to find out what video I was watching):
Kyle Bradford was a meat cutter in a grocery store when the sounds first thundered across the skies, and the world changed forever. The doors had opened, and something was coming through.
Once the initial shock and confusion wore off, and those in charge realized what was happening, mankind seemed to coalesce like never before. National boundaries no longer mattered. Religion, race, color and creed seemed to pass away in a flash. Old enemies put their differences aside. The only thing that did matter was survival.
As a species.
Now, Kyle is on a mission to save what’s left of our world. Or die trying.
Click on the cover to get your copy from Amazon (set at $0.99, which is the lowest they'll let me go). Hope you enjoy it!
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