How about a biography of someone you knew but isn’t famous? I read the short “story” that Annie Ernaux wrote about her mother. I guess like with the case of JK Rowling she got away with it because she had a very long list of highly acclaimed books. But that seemed doable to me. Maybe I go and write it anyway and then self publish it?
I think you should definitely go ahead and write it anyway! As long as the person is chosen wisely, real life subjects can be compelling. And regarding biography word count, there is a huge range, so you could do anything from short story length to well over 100,000 words.
I’m archiving this helpful essay for reference, thanks!
I’ve been posting a survey of both classic and offbeat modern short stories, organized by length. Writers may find my survey posts helpful, if they’re working on short stories.
I find that always having a sense of the length, why certain lengths are worth the effort, etc., constantly helps me make decisions about the actual writing.
How about a biography of someone you knew but isn’t famous? I read the short “story” that Annie Ernaux wrote about her mother. I guess like with the case of JK Rowling she got away with it because she had a very long list of highly acclaimed books. But that seemed doable to me. Maybe I go and write it anyway and then self publish it?
I think you should definitely go ahead and write it anyway! As long as the person is chosen wisely, real life subjects can be compelling. And regarding biography word count, there is a huge range, so you could do anything from short story length to well over 100,000 words.
This is good advice. Breaking in with a conventional novel is hard enough, let alone an unconventional one.
Thanks, Richard. That's true. You're starting the game with a built-in handicap if your book is way off from suggested word-counts.
I’m archiving this helpful essay for reference, thanks!
I’ve been posting a survey of both classic and offbeat modern short stories, organized by length. Writers may find my survey posts helpful, if they’re working on short stories.
https://open.substack.com/pub/karlstraub/p/story-batch-four-20-stories-between?r=6x9gm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I appreciate that, Karl.
And I like the short story length stats you've been posting. It's good info to keep in mind.
I find that always having a sense of the length, why certain lengths are worth the effort, etc., constantly helps me make decisions about the actual writing.