Why I’m Writing Two Novellas At Once
by Jeff Baker
I am a terrible procrastinator. (Okay, okay. Actually I’m a very good procrastinator.) I’m a great putter-offer, especially about writing. So, when I tried to start writing regularly years and years ago I told myself that I would only work on one story at a time. That had been my problem for many years; plenty of false starts, including some very good beginnings, but very few were finished.
In that, I probably was like a lot of wannabe writers who have a trunk-full (or file-full) of half-finished stories, (if even finished that far) and very few finished ones.
So, a number of years ago I told myself I would finish whatever story I was working on before I started actually writing another one. Not counting doing research, writing notes and doping out a half-assed outline. And in the about twenty years since I have acquired a lot more discipline when it comes to writing and today I manage to juggle several short-story projects at once.
None of this explains how I have managed to get myself into writing two novellas at once.
Without a submissions call. Without a sudden burst of interest in novellas in the markets. Without even a sudden obsession brought on by a midlife crisis. (I’m more than a few years past a midlife crisis or any pretensions to being in midlife, anyway.)
First, I need to define my terms:
A Novella is defined as being between 17,500 and 40,000 words.
A Novelette is defined as being between 7,500 and 17,500 words.
Those lengths are approximate and are from a Wikipedia (the fount of all knowledge) article citing sources like The Writer magazine and the Science Fiction And Fantasy Writer’s Association.
Now. How did I get to writing two of those things simultaneously?
First off; the sci-fi (maybe more science-fantasy) novella is something I had the idea for over forty years ago. It never went away and I wrote down a few notes on it, an entire page at one time in fact. Then about two months ago I decided to finally get to work on it and finish it. I couldn’t find my notes so I wrote down a few things and started in. Keeping with my method of working on a section that I feel I can make progress on the novella is proceeding in some large chunks that are finally coming together. My main character is probably Gay, maybe Bi something I wouldn’t have written forty years ago.
And in the middle of all that, an idea banged into my head for something entirely different, something that was also begging to be told at novella or novelette length. Full-blown fantasy this time, at least for the setting. Openly Gay/Bi characters. Romance, definitely romance and yes some sex. Some palace intrigue and some necessary world-building.
So I started in on that one and have kept at it for a few weeks, working on both stories. Usually just one at a time in the evening and early morning, but on at least one evening I wrote several pages on both stories. I’m simply amazed I have written as much as I have on one of them, let alone two.
I am drawing on my imaginings for plot in both of these; bits and pieces of things I’ve daydreamed about over the decades. Science-fictional comic-booky stuff, psudeo-historical stuff. Kinky stuff as well as what I know about being an old romantic.
As well as having to research where the planets were in their orbits in our solar system aout fifty years ago.
The trick to writing one novella, let alone two is perseverance and discipline. Two things I haven’t always had but am getting there. And since I am I have gone through my files and I have a list of several other unfinished novellas I could finish or at least try to. As well as ideas for longer stories that I could write while I’m in the groove.
From there on it’s just a matter of finding places to publish them.
Because getting them read is part of the plan, too.
Jeff Baker writes about reading and writing sci-fi, fantasy and horror and other sundry matters on or around the thirteenth of every month. He has published over forty full-length stories in various markets and will keep QSF readers posted about any published novellas. He posts weekly fiction on his blog https://authorjeffbaker.com/ and wastes time on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jeff.baker.524042 Blue Sky https://bsky.app/profile/jeffbakerauthor.bsky.social and Mastodon https://mastodon.otherworldsink.com/@MikeMayak (as “Mike Mayak.)