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Q&A How can I turn my short story into a novel?

While it's possible to expand a short story into a novel (c.f. Ender's Game), what seems more common in my experience (citation needed) is for the short story to become one part of a larger novel. ...

posted 10y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T03:54:36Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/14588
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T03:54:36Z (about 5 years ago)
While it's _possible_ to expand a short story into a novel (c.f. _Ender's Game_), what seems more common in my experience (citation needed) is for the short story to become _one part_ of a larger novel. Your short story is already a self-contained unit; what else is going on around those characters, in that setting, etc? Is there a bigger story that you can develop out of that context?

Another approach you might consider for your first novel-length work is to assemble a collection of short stories with a common element -- setting, characters, or theme. As you get used to making longer-running threads of connection through a few hundred pages (instead of a few dozen), you will be preparing yourself to write a novel from scratch _next_.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2014-12-07T21:14:43Z (about 10 years ago)
Original score: 11