# Do Novelettes have chapters? (10,000 to 12,000 words)



## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

This, I'm sure, is a really dumb question, but I don't read shorter works very often, so I'm going to ask it.  I'm guessing my short story is going to end up being around 10,000 words.  That's a little long to call it a short story, so I'm guessing it will be called a novelette.  (Right?)

So my question is this.  I usually chapter break at around 2,000 to 2,500 words, but that would mean this would have five chapters.  That seems silly to me, to chapter break for five chapters.  But it is getting a bit long now, and is strange for me not to chapter break.

For all you shorter work authors, what do you do?

Vicki


----------



## MonkeyScribe (Jan 27, 2011)

I use scene breaks marked with a special symbol like # or ~~~.


----------



## Daniel Arenson (Apr 11, 2010)

Up to you, Vicki.  I think scene breaks would be more conventional, but if you really like chapters, nobody will think you're a weirdo.


----------



## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

Daniel Arenson said:


> Up to you, Vicki. I think scene breaks would be more conventional, but if you really like chapters, nobody will think you're a weirdo.


Believe me, plenty of people think I'm a weirdo!! 

Thanks for the answers, guys. I have been doing scene breaks, so that works for me.

Vicki


----------



## Amanda Brice (Feb 16, 2011)

I actually do consider 10,000 words to still be a short story. It's not really until closer to the 15K-20K range that I consider it a novellete, but it's semantics, really. Most readers have no idea what a novelette is, and would probably just assume it's a novella or a short novel. So really, I'd stick to "short story of 10,000 words" in your description.

But that's not your question. 

I've seen stories in this range with chapters, and I've seen stories that just have scene breaks. I guess it's really more what you're comfortable with.


----------



## Daniel Arenson (Apr 11, 2010)

Victorine said:


> Believe me, plenty of people think I'm a weirdo!!


I think that's true of most writers, actually.


----------



## M.S. Verish (Feb 26, 2010)

Our 10,000 word novelette, _The Hawk's Shadow, _ has scene breaks. Chapters didn't feel right.


----------



## 39179 (Mar 16, 2011)

I’m working on a short work right now that will probably be around the same size as yours (probably a bit less). 10,000 words would indeed be a novelette, being between 7,500 and 20,000, which I understand to be the general parameters. 

I don’t think having five chapters would be silly at all. The reader knows going into it that it’s a short work, so they wouldn’t be expecting a lot of chapters. If it feels right to break it up where appropriate I would go ahead and do it. I’m not putting any chapters in mine as it all happens in real time, but if it didn’t I wouldn’t hesitate to do so.


----------



## Amanda Brice (Feb 16, 2011)

It also partly depends on how you're releasing this. Is it a story in an anthology of other authors? Then I'd definitely do scene breaks, because having chapters would unnecessarily complicate matters (since generally each new story is the equivalent of a "chapter" in the book as a whole).

But if it's a standalone e-book just by you, I think you can do either. Scene breaks might be more conventional, but chapters is fine, too. Just whatever you're comfortable with.


----------



## Michael Robertson Jr (Feb 24, 2011)

I've got a 20,000-word story in my upcoming collection and I just used scene breaks. Chapters seemed like overkill for the story. 

Michael


----------



## altworld (Mar 11, 2010)

The Wonder Tales was a series of short stories before I placed them into one volume. Scene breaks work a lot better than chapters, and really it is the same thing anyway. Just using scene breaks makes the story feel longer.
Arigato,
Nick Davis


----------



## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

Thanks, guys!  I agree, chapters seem overkill. 

Heh... pink snowbunnies in hell... gotta love that!!

Vicki


----------



## RonnellDPorter (Apr 20, 2010)

I was coming to the board to ask the same question  - thanks for prepping the way, Vicki!  

I'd just been using page breaks for end scenes, and I think I'm going to just stick with that. After all, The short Second Life of Bree Tanner didn't use any chapters, and that was a 200 page novella


----------



## GBard (Mar 21, 2011)

I used scene breaks in a 15,000 word story. They seemed to move things a bit more sensibly than just numbers.


----------



## 13893 (Apr 29, 2010)

Here are the Hugo categories re length:

The current list of Hugo Award categories is as follows:

Best *Novel*: Awarded for a science fiction or fantasy story of forty thousand (40,000) words or more.
Best *Novella*: Awarded for a science fiction or fantasy story of between seventeen thousand five hundred (17,500) and forty thousand (40,000) words.
Best *Novelette*: Awarded for a science fiction or fantasy story of between seven thousand five hundred (7,500) and seventeen thousand five hundred (17,500) words.
Best *Short Story*: Awarded for science fiction or fantasy story of less than seven thousand five hundred (7,500) words.

As far as chapters versus scene breaks, I'd use what works to set the rhythm of the piece.


----------



## Amanda Brice (Feb 16, 2011)

I think "novelette" is a term those in the SF/F world understand, because of the Hugo and the strong market for shorter fiction. But outside that genre, most readers know the terms "short story", "novella" and "novel" and stare at blankly when you say "novelette."

(And in many genres, 40K words would not be a novel, either. So it really is all genre-specific.)

That being said, whether 10K is a short story or a novelette, state the word count and the approximate page count so that readers know what you're talking about. Because in some genres, 10K is, in fact, still a short story, and the novelette doesn't exist.


----------



## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

Amanda Brice said:


> I think "novelette" is a term those in the SF/F world understand, because of the Hugo and the strong market for shorter fiction. But outside that genre, most readers know the terms "short story", "novella" and "novel" and stare at blankly when you say "novelette."
> 
> (And in many genres, 40K words would not be a novel, either. So it really is all genre-specific.)
> 
> That being said, whether 10K is a short story or a novelette, state the word count and the approximate page count so that readers know what you're talking about. Because in some genres, 10K is, in fact, still a short story, and the novelette doesn't exist.


Good to know, thanks. I just looked up "Word Count" in Wiki and got the term "novelette." Didn't know it could be different depending on genre.

Vicki


----------



## aaronpolson (Apr 4, 2010)

I wouldn't leave the section break marks (e.g., #) in a published ebook, though.  It's more of a manuscript convention for submission to editors.  

Many authors just number sections--sometimes with roman numerals, and this technique is used all the way down to short story land.


----------



## Guest (May 19, 2011)

I did Part I, Part II, etc. in Flash Gold. It's just shy of 18,000 words, and I called it a novella. (Word/page count is in the ebook description, though, so folks won't expect something longer.)


----------



## Amanda Brice (Feb 16, 2011)

# as a section break is more of a manuscript submission convention, but *** is used even in Big Six books, so change that pound sign to an asterisk and I think you're fine.

Personally, I like finding a b/w silhouette graphic that ties in with the theme of my book (for my dance books, I used an outline of a dancer) and I use that both at the start of a new chapter (large, next to CHAPTER 1) and in a much smaller version for my scene breaks.


----------



## MegHarris (Mar 4, 2010)

I use chapter breaks in my novelettes-- usually four or five chapters.  I don't know why; it just seems to make them read better to me.


----------



## samanthawarren (May 1, 2011)

My novellas (15,000 words) use chapters. I like chapters better because they're more final. When I'm reading, if I can't read for a long time, I'll read to the end of the chapter. If it's just a scene break, I feel like I have to keep going. Also, with chapters, you can use page breaks, so someone gets to the end of the page, sees all that white space, and goes "Wait, what?? OMG, I have to keep reading!"   But really, as has been said, I think it's mostly personal preference.


----------



## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

modwitch said:


> Sounds like something Emily might say, no??


LOL! I've been thinking about it. I totally stink at flash fiction though!  But I might try it, it does sound fun!

Vicki


----------



## Alain Gomez (Nov 12, 2010)

Victorine said:


> This, I'm sure, is a really dumb question, but I don't read shorter works very often, so I'm going to ask it. I'm guessing my short story is going to end up being around 10,000 words. That's a little long to call it a short story, so I'm guessing it will be called a novelette. (Right?)
> 
> So my question is this. I usually chapter break at around 2,000 to 2,500 words, but that would mean this would have five chapters. That seems silly to me, to chapter break for five chapters. But it is getting a bit long now, and is strange for me not to chapter break.
> 
> ...


I look at the natural ends of concepts rather than word count. For example, when I'm writing novella-length works, an entire action sequence would be one concept. If the next thing you talk about is a change of scene, you could probably put a chapter break in-between. The exception would be if there's a really short scene that could not be it's own chapter. So I would do:

longer action sequence
*chapter break*
different long action sequence

OR

longer action sequence
*paragraph break*
small scene
*chapter break*
next large section of action

I read lots of shorter works as well. Both in my own time and to review on my blog (I only accept works that are under 10k). Some people won't even do chapters in their shorter works, just paragraph breaks. You have to think that in novels, you have the luxury of smoothly describing changes in scene. In short fiction, chapters help the reader to assume a change in scene so it makes everything flow.


----------



## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Historical perspective: 40k isn't just an sf thing -- it used to be considered a novel in every genre. (Well, the bottom of the range.)  It's just that the publishing industry finds it too expensive to print and distribute any more so they have pushed hard for longer and longer novels (which they can charge higher prices for).  This has been going on for about twenty or thirty years.

As for novelettes -- they used to always have chapters, but as often as not, it would just be marked with a roman numeral centered in a scene break -- usually no page break at all.  (Sometimes these novelettes would be serials and collected into a book later.. and the novelettes would get full chapter headings but still have the roman numeral headings.)

Kate Chopin's classic novel THE AWAKENING had chapters as short as a page I think. 

It just depends on your style.  You do need to break up a longer story, but how you do it depends on you.

Camille


----------



## Victoria lane &amp; R.T. Fox (Nov 10, 2009)

Glad you ask this question, as I just finished 28000 words and page breaks will work for me.  About Vampire bears. Thanks


----------



## aaronpolson (Apr 4, 2010)

And this:



daringnovelist said:


> Historical perspective: 40k isn't just an sf thing -- it used to be considered a novel in every genre. (Well, the bottom of the range.) It's just that the publishing industry finds it too expensive to print and distribute any more so they have pushed hard for longer and longer novels (which they can charge higher prices for). This has been going on for about twenty or thirty years.


...is one of the upsides to e-publishing. Many "classic" novels from the early 20th century aren't even close to 100K. Thank Zeus we still have _The Great Gatsby_, _Of Mice and Men_, etc.


----------



## Midnight Writer (Jan 4, 2011)

All my novelette length books have chapters. Both my indie novelettes are around 11k words, but one has 4 chapters, the other 6.

Lanette


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Victorine said:


> This, I'm sure, is a really dumb question, but I don't read shorter works very often, so I'm going to ask it. I'm guessing my short story is going to end up being around 10,000 words. That's a little long to call it a short story, so I'm guessing it will be called a novelette. (Right?)
> 
> So my question is this. I usually chapter break at around 2,000 to 2,500 words, but that would mean this would have five chapters. That seems silly to me, to chapter break for five chapters. But it is getting a bit long now, and is strange for me not to chapter break.
> 
> ...


Depends on the author and their style.

A lot of short novels I've read have chapter breaks. I plan to have them in mine.


----------



## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

I put out my first short story last month (6,000 words), and it has 3 chapters. I tried scene breaks, but just didn't like it. It wanted chapters and that's what it got. What good is being an indie if I can't make indie decisions like that?


----------



## A. S. Warwick (Jan 14, 2011)

My current short stories and novelettes (and I do use the term) don't have chapters, but do use paragraph breaks.

I do have an upcoming group of novelettes, pulp style sword and sorcery, that are influenced by the old pulp magazine stories, and like them they do use chapters, but simply marked by roman numerals like daringnovelist mentioned.


----------



## matte633 (Nov 30, 2009)

Great question! I was about to ask the same thing. It seems scene breaks had a tremendous response over chapter breaks.


----------



## Kevis Hendrickson (Feb 28, 2009)

My SF short story trilogy comes in at about 7,000 words each and I'm using chapters. But it makes sense the way my book is written to use chapters. Section breaks wouldn't work with my cliffhanger approach. Whether to use chapters or section breaks in a novelette really depends on the nature of the story being told and the way the plot unfolds. But it's true most novelettes don't have chapters.


----------



## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

Mine have chapters.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Victorine said:


> This, I'm sure, is a really dumb question, but I don't read shorter works very often, so I'm going to ask it. I'm guessing my short story is going to end up being around 10,000 words. That's a little long to call it a short story, so I'm guessing it will be called a novelette. (Right?)
> 
> So my question is this. I usually chapter break at around 2,000 to 2,500 words, but that would mean this would have five chapters. That seems silly to me, to chapter break for five chapters. But it is getting a bit long now, and is strange for me not to chapter break.
> 
> ...


It depends on the story.

I have no problem with using chapters in some cases, if it feels right for the story, even if it's a shorter work (novelette).

Other times, if the story feels like 10-19K of no-breaks action, I'll use a section break as a less jarring separation.

So it just depends on the needs and demands of the story.

BTW, I like my section breaks a little more decorative, so I usually use this: ~ * * * ~

A tilde, three asterisks, and a tilde, with spaces between each, and centered on the page. Looks far less sloppy and haphazard to me than ***** or ###, esp. when those examples are left-aligned rather than centered.

But I've seen novelettes with chapters, too, and it doesn't bug me at all. If one of my upcoming shorter works is over before I hit 20K, then those will indeed have chapter breaks (as well as section breaks).

I started on one of them (EyeCU) last night, actually, as a break from EMBER. I'll just work on whichever one strikes my fancy each night.


----------



## Mel Comley (Oct 13, 2010)

I'm a weirdo then, I have chapters in my two!


----------



## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

Personally I don't use or like chapters in anything shorter than a novel - but no problem if you use them.


----------



## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

How funny -- today was the first day I've ever heard the word novelette and now I've heard it twice. I've been calling our 13,000 word story a novella. And yes, we totally used chapter breaks. Especially since we have two storylines that are are converging. It would have been really weird without chapter breaks. Especially since it prints out at 75 pages.


----------



## 41352 (Apr 4, 2011)

Sophrosyne said:


> How funny -- today was the first day I've ever heard the word novelette and now I've heard it twice. I've been calling our 13,000 word story a novella. And yes, we totally used chapter breaks. Especially since we have two storylines that are are converging. It would have been really weird without chapter breaks. Especially since it prints out at 75 pages.


I've published several novellas (25-40K) without chapter breaks, from 2 or 3 points of view. Scene breaks are more than enough in my opinion.


----------



## Artemis Hunt (Aug 23, 2011)

I break them up with a * .

(It's not a swear word, honest.)


----------



## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

I use *   *   * or blank lines for scene breaks. Like, if a camera is moving from one scene to another.

However, for bigger breaks (like where a commercial would be inserted) -- act breaks, as opposed to scene breaks -- I use chapters.


----------



## Mike Dennis (Apr 26, 2010)

Vicki, I have a novelette coming out in a couple of weeks (12K words) and it has no fewer than nine chapters. That's where the action breaks are and it seemed right. There are also a couple of scene breaks in there, too.

But I think Alain has a good point about longer action sequences vs shorter ones.


----------



## A.R. Williams (Jan 9, 2011)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> It depends on the story.
> 
> I have no problem with using chapters in some cases, if it feels right for the story, even if it's a shorter work (novelette).
> 
> Other times, if the story feels like 10-19K of no-breaks action, I'll use a section break as a less jarring separation.


I agree with Craig on this. It depends on the feel of the story. I use chapter breaks in mine along with scene breaks. In a way, it's almost like creating a sentence or a paragraph just on a much larger scale (deciding how close the items relate to one another).

A scene break would be like a comma or semi-colon. A brief pause in the action before it continues.

A chapter break would be more like a period or colon. A harder stop to the action.


----------



## Decon (Feb 16, 2011)

I use scene breaks in mine.


----------



## Kathleen Valentine (Dec 10, 2009)

I have 4 novelettes between 15k and 24k. On three of them I use scene breaks with *** in between and one has Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four.

Good luck.


----------



## Courtney Milan (Feb 27, 2011)

As a functional matter, if I'm using my Kindle to skim through a story looking for the part I really like or want to quote or want to read aloud to my husband, I use the chapter breaks to move quickly from one bit to the next. It can be done on my old Kindle with keyboard by clicking the navigation button, or the new Kindle Touch with an up-down swipe.

A story without chapter breaks is unskimmable.


----------



## Carradee (Aug 21, 2010)

Count me in the "It depends on the story" group. I even have a novel series that looks like it won't have any chapters, just parts and scene breaks. Sometimes I do chapters. My scenes tend to range from a few hundred to a few thousand words long, but when I do have chapter breaks, I try to keep the word count in a similar range in each chapter.


----------

