What is a Novel?

When most of us hear the word 'novel', we immediately think of a long story book, covering hundreds of pages. So, is that all it is—just a long story book?

Let us explore together the various definitions that exist.

 

Firstly, let us start with the most obvious definition—the one that involves length.

 

I came across a definition that states that it should have over 50 000 words. Let us compare that to other works of fiction. A short story, according to one definition, should not have more than 20, 000 words. It follows therefore that any work of fiction that has between 20, 000 and 50, 000 words is a novella.

 

Now here come the tricky questions. So at what point does novella become a novel? If you write a fictional work with 50,000 words, does that mean it is a novella? Suppose you have 50,001 words, does it mean you have written a novel? Oh heck, what difference does one word make?

 

As seen above, the definition involving length is quite inconclusive and is subject to revision and argument. Therefore, let us look at something else.

 

The other definition involves the focal point. The novelist puts his emphasis on the character.

 

Other works of fiction, such as the romance, place the emphasis on the plot, depicting exciting and gripping events. The character may not be rounded and is often portrayed as flawlessly beautiful or handsome.

 

The novelist, however, works to develop a character fully, showing that she is fully human or has complete human features such as emotion and ambition. The characters realistically experience the pain of failure, the sting of conscience due to wrong doing, and a vast other number of debilitating emotions that result from the flawed nature of humanity.

 

As you may be aware, however, a short story’s point of emphasis is also the character. In a short story, the writer pays attention to develop the human character or other character with human characteristics. It is therefore correct to say that a novel is, in truly layman terms, a very long short story. It is an extension of a short story. In other words, it is a long story. But bending the definition even further, it is a combination of the like of short stories—since a short story depicts a single episode—that flow in a logical sequence. These ‘short stories’ are arranged into chapters; and when combined, they make the complete story.

But that is not all there is to the definition. This work, like the short story is more of an effort of realism than fiction. The novelist often wants to bring out the ‘facts of life’. So if you, as a novelist, are writing a book, you are simply crying out:

 

“Hey, this is what life is like! This is what humans are like!”

 

For example,‘Oliver Twist’ by Charles Dickens, is a tale of a young boy of humble beginnings who meets a fine share of misfortune on the path of growing up. Oliver is not something out of the ordinary, and has not even the slightest hint of superhumaness in him. He is an orphan, a pauper, a person considered most unfortunate. But even for a person like him, Charles reveals that the tide can turn when the fight for him—that nearly tears him apart—by the heathen and the good is finally won by the latter. Eventually, Oliver is delivered from his heathen guardians, and hence his pauper life…

 

Hmm—a truly touching tale of the brutish realities of medieval England!

 

Indeed, like Charles, many novelists seek to mock the brutal realities of life, often imposed by other humans.

 

Unlike a short story, which, as the name implies, is short, and hence restricted to a single episode or a short time period, the setting in a novel covers a long period of time and hence covers more than a single episode.

 

The novelist has the freedom to diversify by means of subplots, flash-backs, flash-forwards, double plots, etc. He aims to produce more than one single effect in the reader. Thus he employs a number of episodes as well as a number of characters to achieve this end.

 

Remember too, unlike the short story which only features one conflict, it can have several conflicts. Thus the attention of the reader is focused on several conflicts, and not just one…

 

So much can be said, but let us remove all the rough edges, so to speak, and remain with only the rounded definition:

 

It is a long work of prose fiction which aims at depicting realism and produces a complex array of responses in the reader.

And here is a useful addition: a work of fiction that seems to have both the characteristics of a novel and a short story may more appropriately be classified as a novella.

There are many types of novels, but I will not delve into that. It will do you little good to know each and every type. Rather, a basic understanding is enough, so that we have an idea of the boundary within which we are going to operate.

 

However, I have never been particular about definitions, nor boundaries. If anything, I don't mind breaking a few rules and experiment a little.

 

So, don't feel hedged in by these definitions. Allow your imagination to flow and have a little bit of fun....

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