A writer asks Alle: “Can my novel-in-stories stand alone as shorts/a novella?”

Do you think I should try to submit excerpts as short stories? Look for an agent?

If you are publishing a novella, 40-50K is a good word count to aim for. A novelette comes in at 7,700 – 17,500 words.

For most agents to be interested in the project, you will need to bring it up to at least 70K words. You can do a lot of research on lit mags that take novellas, but I think you will have better luck placing short stories.

It takes me a ton of work to adapt a chapter into a story, but I’ve done it six times, all resulting in publications: New World Writing. Tupelo Quarterly, Dale Peck’s Evergreen Review, and Another Chicago. This one placed as first finalist for The Lascaux Prize.

I list in the order which the chapters appear in As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back. 

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