Ah, the novel—a world contained within pages, a playground for words and ideas. With our daily lives dominated by screens, curling up with a good novel is a cherished escape and a nostalgic pastime for many. But what exactly is a novel?
In this article, we’ll dive into the art and anatomy of the novel, exploring how a simple string of sentences transforms into a full-fledged literary journey.
What is a novel?
A novel is a fictional work of prose that weaves together characters, plots, and settings to create a narrative world, capturing a specific theme or element of the human experience.
The word “novel” comes from the Italian term novella, which originally meant “new” or “news” and referred to short, new stories. Over time, these tales evolved into longer, more complex narratives, giving rise to the modern novel.
Novels fall into the fiction genre, born from the author’s imagination with invented characters, plots, and settings. While nonfiction focuses on real people and events, novels explore themes or emotions through imagined storytelling, offering an escape into alternate worlds.
Style and length
Often style and length are the two defining factors that set novels apart from other literary works. While short stories can be read in a single sitting, novels are much longer narratives in chapters or parts, requiring a bigger time investment. Due to their length, novels deliver a more expansive, detailed, and nuanced exploration of stories, emotions, and ideas.
The distinctive style of novels comes from prose—a natural flow of language that mimics everyday speech, setting it apart from the structured rhythm and rhyme of verse. Unlike verse—which relies on meter, rhyme schemes, and line breaks—prose allows for greater flexibility in sentence structure and length. This allows novels to delve deeply into character development, dialogue, and narrative complexity.
Though storytelling has ancient roots, the novel as we know it began to take shape in the 17th and 18th centuries, with authors such as Miguel de Cervantes (Don Quixote) and Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe) pioneering the form. These early works laid the groundwork for what became a defining genre of literature—a medium through which writers could explore human nature, society, and imagination in depth.
Key elements of a novel
There are several essential elements to great novels, which are important to know if you are thinking about writing your own novel. Let’s explore each one in detail.
Plot
The plot is the backbone of a novel—a sequence of events that gives structure to the story. It’s the roadmap that takes characters (and readers) from one point to the next, building suspense, conflict, and resolution. Without a plot, a novel would be nothing more than a series of unrelated scenes. The plot is what binds everything together, driving the narrative forward.
There are many different types of plots in literature, but some of the most common include:
- Linear plots, where events happen chronologically, take readers on a straightforward journey from beginning to end.
- Nonlinear plots often jump around in time or flash between past and present, creating a more complex, layered story.
- Circular plots, where the story ends in a similar place or situation as where it began, bring the narrative full circle.
Plot is crucial because it engages the reader’s attention and creates a framework for the novel’s themes and character development. A well-crafted plot keeps readers hooked, while a weak plot can leave them feeling disconnected from the story.
Character development
At the heart of every novel are its characters. Character development refers to how characters grow, change, or stay the same throughout the story. In well-written novels, characters evolve as the plot progresses, reacting to challenges and revealing new facets of themselves.
Typically, the protagonist is the main character, the one driving the story forward. This character is often the one readers root for, as they face challenges, pursue goals, or overcome conflicts.
In contrast, the antagonist is the character or force that opposes the protagonist, creating tension and conflict. This doesn’t always mean the antagonist is a villain—sometimes, they simply clash with the protagonist.
Characters tend to be either dynamic or static in nature. Dynamic characters change throughout the story. They grow, learn lessons, or undergo transformations that shape the plot’s outcome. These changes often stem from the challenges they face, making them more relatable and complex.
On the other hand, static characters remain unchanged. While they can still be interesting and important to the plot, their personalities remain largely the same from beginning to end. Static characters often serve as foils to dynamic characters, highlighting the changes the latter undergoes.
Setting
The setting of a novel refers to the time and place where the story unfolds. It’s not just a backdrop—it can shape the mood, influence the plot, and impact the characters in meaningful ways. Settings can range from real-world locations, like Victorian England in Jane Eyre, to entirely fictional worlds, like Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings.
Settings such as the desolate, war-torn landscape of The Things They Carried immerse readers in the harsh realities of war, while the adventure-driven world of Lonesome Dove invites readers on a rugged, untamed frontier journey in the Old West. The setting can create an emotional tone for the novel, whether it’s eerie, romantic, or adventurous. In many cases, the setting becomes a character of its own, influencing the actions and fates of the protagonists.
Themes
Last but not least, the theme is the final element of a novel, which gives the story an underlying message or the idea it seeks to explore. Themes can be broad concepts like love, power, or freedom, but they’re often woven into the story in subtle ways, expressed through characters, settings, and conflicts.
Some of the most common themes in literature include:
- Good vs. evil: Explored in classics like William Golding’s Lord of the Flies or Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, this theme pits opposing forces against each other, with the moral implications of their choices at the forefront.
- Love and relationships: Seen in countless novels, from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, this theme explores romantic, familial, and platonic connections between characters.
- Coming of age: This theme follows a character’s journey from youth to maturity, as seen in novels like J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye or Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend. It often focuses on self-discovery and personal growth.
Comparisons with other literary forms
Here’s a closer look at how novels stack up against short stories, novellas, and epics.
Novels vs. short stories
The most obvious difference between novels and short stories is length. Novels typically span hundreds of pages, allowing for more in-depth character development, intricate plots, and complex themes. In contrast, short stories are brief, often only a few pages long, and focus on a single moment or idea. Because of their brevity, short stories tend to be more focused, with less room for subplots or a deep exploration of characters.
For example, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby offers a layered narrative across many chapters, while a short story like William Faulkner’s Barn Burning creates an impact within a limited scope. Novels provide a slow burn; short stories deliver quick, sharp insights.
Novels vs. novellas
Novellas sit somewhere between short stories and novels in terms of length. While they are longer than short stories, they are much shorter than the typical novel, generally ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 words.
A novella provides more space than a short story for plot and character development but lacks the extensive scope of a full-length novel. As a result, novellas are often focused on a single character or event without branching into the complexities of multiple subplots.
Examples include James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room and George Orwell’s Animal Farm, which deliver rich stories in a concise format. A novella offers the best of both worlds—more depth than a short story but quicker reads than a novel.
Novels vs. epics
Epics, often considered the grandest form of storytelling, differ from novels in length and scale. While novels may cover an extensive narrative, epics often span generations, cultures, or mythologies, blending history and legend.
Works like Homer’s The Iliad or Virgil’s The Aeneid are sweeping tales of heroism, warfare, and the gods, far grander in scope than the typical novel. Novels, though varied, tend to focus more on individual human experiences rather than epic quests or divine interventions.
Novel FAQs
Is “novel” a genre?
No, a novel is not a genre; it is a literary form. Novels can fall into genres such as mystery, romance, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, or literary fiction. The term “novel” refers to the length and structure of the work rather than its genre, meaning novels can encompass any type of storytelling, depending on the themes and elements the author explores.
Examples of novels
Some famous examples of novels include Emma by Jane Austen, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, and A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.
What is the difference between a novel and a novella?
The main difference between a novel and a novella is length. Novels typically exceed 50,000 words and can go up to several hundred thousand words, offering a broader exploration of characters, plots, and subplots. Novellas are shorter, generally ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 words, and provide a more concise story while allowing for character and plot development. Novellas, like The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka or Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, focus on a single event or idea, making them more compact than the typically sprawling narrative of a novel.