Furry Writers' Guild Forum

Novella Definitions -- Coyotl vs. Leo

The Cóyotl Awards
#1

I want to take a moment to point out that the Coyotl Awards and the Leo Literary Awards define novellas differently. So, if you’re looking at lists of recommendations for one, then some works will belong in a different category when you switch to looking at the other. Specifically, the Coyotl Awards define a novella as being between 20k and 50k words long; the Leo Literary Awards define a novella as being anything published as its own book that’s under 60k.

With this in mind – are there any novels being recommended for the Coyotls that would count as novellas for the Leos?

#2

Phantom Janitor would be counted as a novella by the Leo Awards.

#3

The Pride of Parahumans is just under 50,000 words.

What? It was a NaNoWriMo project.

#4

Do single-author collections under 50K count as novellas or anthologies?

#5

In the Coyotls, that would be an anthology.

#6

Yarst! What happened to the definition that an anthology is a group of stories by different authors, while a collection is a group of stories by the same author?

#7

It’s archaic and not consistently agreed upon? Also, it resurfaces when people like you ask about what happened to it? So, I guess, it’s safe and sound and has been inside your heart all along.

In all seriousness, it doesn’t make sense to have an entirely separate category for single author collections, and the distinction you mention – well, I’ve never actually encountered it except when arguments like this one come up. I can’t even find really solid support for it with a Google search. And even if it was once true, I don’t think it’s a very helpful distinction, so it’s probably dying out from lack of usefulness.

#8

I have to agree that it doesn’t seem to be used much any more, but it still seems useful to me. Before, you knew when a book was described as an anthology or as a collection whether the stories were by the same author or not. Now, with both words meaning the same thing, you have to ask.