I’ll admit right now – I love writing novella-length fiction.

It’s not that I don’t have a novel in me (I’ll soon be getting back to a new draft on the first of a trilogy of novels!) it’s just that novellas, despite their brevity, seem to have more appeal to the reader.

In this hectic world, people don’t have a lot of time on their hands to read, let alone write, but a novella can be read in one afternoon if it’s engrossing enough.

As a writer you usually know from the first spark if an idea will be flash fiction (less than 1000 words), a short, a novella or a novel. Many of my tales are around the novella length (up to 40,000 words) and I’m comfortable with that length right now.

In my opinion, a short story’s main intent is to sell a concept or a message, while a novella gives you the leeway to give your characters a bit more soul. At least that was the case with the half a dozen or so short stories I’ve had published since 2009.

Novellas also allow you to maintain a good amount of pacing to a story and given my writing style is quite tight, I am able to work on keeping the reader engrossed.

My first novella Torment, was much shorter to start with and I was advised to try and flesh it out more. There are two parts of the book – present day Scotland and 1980’s Boston. The 1980’s section – comprising scenes from the main character Jessica’s childhood, was inserted in the second or third draft and interspersed throughout the tale to give the reader a bit more of an insight into her soul.

My recently-released second novella The Noctuary, is written like a journal, but it too features a middle section that goes back into the past – sort of like a story within a story.

Although I always knew The Noctuary was going to be a novella, I can see there is a lot of potential for a sequel (in novel form!) in the future.

Many writers enjoy writing short stories and others set out to write novels – I set out to write a good story, the length if anything is secondary (unless of course you’re writing to stipulated guideline). Ultimately the story will tell the writer how long it wants to be.

About Greg Chapman

Greg Chapman is an emerging dark fiction author from Australia.

In 2009 he was selected in the Australian Horror Writers Association’s Mentor Program under the tutelage of Melbourne author Brett McBean.

Since then he has had short stories published in The Absent Willow Review, Trembles Magazine and Morpheus Tales and Eclecticism.

Damnation Books published his first novella “Torment” in March 2011 and will release his second, “The Noctuary” in December 2011.

Apart from his writing ability, Chapman is also an accomplished horror artist with publication credits in Midnight Echo Magazine and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. He is currently illustrating a graphic novel for horror authors Rocky Wood and Lisa Morton, to be published by McFarland in early 2012.

You can find him on the web at www.darkscrybe.blogspot.com