Name That Conflict, Round Two: Novellas
Aug. 28th, 2014 06:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valarltdFor novellas, we're operating with stories between 20,000 and 50000 words. This is my least favorite length to write. The 20K feels like I'm stretching and padding to get there, but 35K feels stunted, cut off early.
It's also not a length I like to read. It's too long for a short story but too short for a novel.
And yet...
Breathe Deep: Man vs Environment, quest and race story. Racing against time and a drug in the air that's dangerous to his species (but not to most others) Salzoran has to find his boy on a space station.
Chain Male: Man vs. Himself. Chad has to overcome his shyness and let himself go to enjoy being with Jace.
Collared Hearts: Man vs. Himself. Josh needs to get over himself and Anthony may have found the way to do it.
Eight Days Ablaze: Man vs. Man. Sort of. The focus is on the sex (erotica, not plot heavy) but Adina's father emerges as a scheming bastard willing to do a great many things to see his daughter provided for.
Frosted Hearts: Man vs man, ish. Josh and Anthony are up against the working class Catholic Bellini expectations and the WASP Tucker expectations.
Fruits of Thine: Woman vs. Herself, vs. circumstances. Carla falls for a completely inappropriate lover: Pan. She has to struggle with her desires, her faith, her self-esteem issues, AND she has to find a way to cross the dimensional barrier between them.
Long Term: Man vs. Himself, vs. Man. Not only does Ian have to overcome his training and his background, he has to deal with a homophobic grocery clerk who decides to harm him and his owner. The first encounter is decided by Ian's fists, because the clerk doesn't know he has martial arts training. The second finds Ian overwhelmed by superior numbers, stabbed and left for dead, with outside intervention (police) being called in to handle the situation.
Master Bear: The conflict is harder to pinpoint. Chris must deal with losing his dying top and his home.
Raising the Dead: Man vs. Man. Shane isn't coping with the levels of submission that William requires. It's one man against a lot of training and scripts.
Pushing the Boundaries of Reality: too long since I read this.
Showdown at Yellowstone River: Man vs Man, vs. Himself. Matt is running from his past, trying to be something other than a washed-up gunfighter. But he ends up running afoul of the most powerful man in town who calls in a legend to end him.
Sky-Rat: too long since I read this to analyze
Songs for Guitar and French Harp: Man vs. Society, vs. Man. Arthur the bear has to go against convention to be with the lion he loves. He and his human stepfather have to take on a gang of war profiteers to recover Gordon.
It's also not a length I like to read. It's too long for a short story but too short for a novel.
And yet...
Breathe Deep: Man vs Environment, quest and race story. Racing against time and a drug in the air that's dangerous to his species (but not to most others) Salzoran has to find his boy on a space station.
Chain Male: Man vs. Himself. Chad has to overcome his shyness and let himself go to enjoy being with Jace.
Collared Hearts: Man vs. Himself. Josh needs to get over himself and Anthony may have found the way to do it.
Eight Days Ablaze: Man vs. Man. Sort of. The focus is on the sex (erotica, not plot heavy) but Adina's father emerges as a scheming bastard willing to do a great many things to see his daughter provided for.
Frosted Hearts: Man vs man, ish. Josh and Anthony are up against the working class Catholic Bellini expectations and the WASP Tucker expectations.
Fruits of Thine: Woman vs. Herself, vs. circumstances. Carla falls for a completely inappropriate lover: Pan. She has to struggle with her desires, her faith, her self-esteem issues, AND she has to find a way to cross the dimensional barrier between them.
Long Term: Man vs. Himself, vs. Man. Not only does Ian have to overcome his training and his background, he has to deal with a homophobic grocery clerk who decides to harm him and his owner. The first encounter is decided by Ian's fists, because the clerk doesn't know he has martial arts training. The second finds Ian overwhelmed by superior numbers, stabbed and left for dead, with outside intervention (police) being called in to handle the situation.
Master Bear: The conflict is harder to pinpoint. Chris must deal with losing his dying top and his home.
Raising the Dead: Man vs. Man. Shane isn't coping with the levels of submission that William requires. It's one man against a lot of training and scripts.
Pushing the Boundaries of Reality: too long since I read this.
Showdown at Yellowstone River: Man vs Man, vs. Himself. Matt is running from his past, trying to be something other than a washed-up gunfighter. But he ends up running afoul of the most powerful man in town who calls in a legend to end him.
Sky-Rat: too long since I read this to analyze
Songs for Guitar and French Harp: Man vs. Society, vs. Man. Arthur the bear has to go against convention to be with the lion he loves. He and his human stepfather have to take on a gang of war profiteers to recover Gordon.
