Expanse

Hello, my lovely readers! Aren't you looking wonderful this beautiful Wednesday afternoon?

As you well know, last week we discussed some of the pros of short stories for our novels vs. short stories series. Well, this week, if you hadn't already surmised, is about the novel side of things.

As per usual, these will be things that not everyone will think of as good, but some of the reasons why I so greatly enjoy writing novels.

Expansive

See? Not everyone would agree that that's a good thing. I know a lot of writers who hate writing novels, simply because of their expansiveness. But we're not here to focus on that — we're here to talk about the pros of that very same expanse.

1. Go places

The expansive nature of novels means that there's a lot more we can do with them. We're not confined to one simple plot and a few little characters. The length alone allows us to do so much more than that. We have freedom to add minor characters, subplots and subterfuge, all to draw the reader in and keep them more engaged than they would be with a short story.

Personally, this is why I so enjoy writing novels.

I like to come along for the ride while my characters go on their great adventures, while they seek the answers to their questions and find out the meaning of the universe around them. To me, that's the fun part. It's more enjoyable than simply writing a short story, because in writing a novel I really get to know what's going on and the depths of everything and everyone.

But like I said, not everyone would count that as a fun and enjoyable thing.

2. Do things

In case you hadn't noticed, I like sequels. The majority of books I've written are, in fact, sequels. Which makes sense, when you notice that I've written three separate series' and thirteen novels (well, almost thirteen, but I'm only a couple chapters away, so I'm counting it!).

With novels, there's freedom to expand. Writers have the option to explore outside the realm of this one simple story, into a whole new world of possibilities. And that's honestly my favorite part of writing novels. I get to be with my characters a while longer, to explore their world through their eyes and watch while it expands around them, while they come into new things and meet new people.

Short stories simply don't have that capability, even when you do a short story series. I've tried that. Novels are better.


[love]

{Rani Divine}