So, I’ve finished my first novella which will release late July. And I’ve decided that a novella or half a book is a very different creature than a full-length historical fiction novel. For one, there’s an economy of words. You simply can’t wax eloquently like usual. A novella is also far more character-driven than plot-driven. A suspense author might argue with me but … In this companion novella to The Rose and the Thistle, I immediately had to trim my cast of characters. “Those Humes,” as Lady Charis says in this novella, “are good at begetting boys.” And so I had to disappear some of them to the continent on a Grand Tour & even colonial America. You simply don’t meet them, you only hear about them though they have verra braw names!
However, some things don’t change even in a novella for this author. There’s still a leisurely start, a slow burn romance, & lush landscape descriptions. The voice is the same. It’s more a historical novel than historical romance though the romance is definitely there & once there very sweet. Even bittersweet.
Readers have mixed reactions to novellas. One reader said recently on an Instagram post that novellas always leave her wanting more. Honestly, even full-length novels that I love leave me wanting more. A good novel should!
For those who wonder what novella is next it’s Bleu Galant’s turn from The Seamstress of Acadie. Just when I had a hard parting with those Humes in novella 1 I’m quite swoony over Bleu in novella 2. True to Bleu, he took me in an entirely different direction than expected, even to another continent. Look for that July 2025!