What is a mini-novel?

Miniature novels are also called short stories, ultra-short stories and one-minute novels. In the past, it existed in the form of various short stories, but its later development made it an independent literary style, and its nature was defined as "a marginal modern emerging literary genre between marginal short stories and essays". Tolstoy said: "Short stories are the best school for training writers." (literature)

Japanese writer Hoshi shinichi pointed out: "Works similar to ultra-short stories existed a long time ago. ..... However, the official appearance of the name ultra-short story originated in the United States. " Most people admire the American writer O 'Henry (1862— 19 10) as the founder. His nearly 300 works have vivid plots and humorous styles. Among them, Maggie's gift is very popular. It can be said that the ultrashort story has three elements: novel conception, rigorous plot and novel ending. In other words, within 1500 words, everything that an ordinary novel should have should be summarized. It can also be said that the mini-novel is a kind of sensitivity, which captures the novel from a point, a picture, a contrast, an exclamation and an instant-a kind of wisdom, a kind of beauty, an intriguing scene and a fresh idea.

The writing goal of mini-novels is four words: micro, new, dense and strange.

First, micro. Said space is small, not more than 1500 words. Therefore, we must pay attention to the conciseness of words when conceiving and writing, and do not allow redundant words and sentences in the works. Such as Mark Twain's "A Page in the Husband's Spending Book". The full text is only seven lines, but it has the whole plot of a novel.

Second, new. Refers to the novel concept and fresh style. Shinichi Hoshino tried his best to pursue "novelty" one minute after writing the novel. He wrote: "Some critics confuse my novels with American short plays, which is inappropriate. I was influenced by American short stories. But I didn't completely rely on it, but played my own unique style and skills. My novel emphasizes a' new' word, giving readers new themes, new knowledge and even surprises them! " To this end, he often uses fairy tales, fables, science fiction, reasoning and other techniques to reflect his unique feelings in real life and express fresh themes through unrealistic themes or realistic brushwork, such as his "Bao Xiu". Of course, the concept of mini-novels, like other forms of novels, is sometimes not clear at a glance, and sometimes the theme is not one, but diversified, which is ok. For example, Frederic Brown, a famous American science fiction writer, wrote an article entitled "The Shortest Science Fiction in the World": "The last man on earth was sitting alone in his room when someone knocked at the door ..." This is very unique and thought-provoking.

Third, secrets. It means tight structure. Structurally, the author of mini-novels should try his best to compress and concentrate the time, place and characters as much as possible, so that the structure of his works is concise and exquisite, just like micro-carving crafts. Therefore, we should work hard on material selection, cutting and typesetting.

Fourth, odd. It means that the ending should be novel, ingenious and unexpected. The characteristics of miniature novels mostly lie in a "strange" word. Many excellent works by Chinese and foreign writers are often breathtaking in the end. For example, Shao Baojian's "Forever Gate" ends.

There is no definite method in writing —— On mini-novels

I once wrote a novel on a whim, but I was criticized as moaning without illness and lacking the basic elements of the novel. I can't make up stories, but I'm still unconvinced that there are no basic elements of novels.

The so-called basic elements of novels are nothing more than characters, plots and environments. The plot of a novel generally includes the beginning, development, climax and ending. The environment of the novel includes natural environment, social environment and the specific environment of the characters' activities. Novels should create typical characters in typical environments. This is the most traditional and old-fashioned requirement.

Speaking of this, I can't help laughing to myself, thinking of a joke circulating on the Internet, "nobility" and "love"

The liberal arts professor in the university asked each student to write a short story, requiring that the novel must have two basic elements: "nobility" and "love".

A few days later, the students finished their homework one by one.

When the professor reads Chu Fengtou's novels, he is very helpless, because both these elements exist. The content of the novel is: "The princess is pregnant." The professor had to ask him to add some elements of "fantasy".

A few days later, Chu Fengfeng gave his masterpiece to the professor: "The princess of Vega is pregnant."

The professor was very angry after reading it, so he added some mysterious elements.

This time, Chu Fengtou's novel became: "Princess Vega is pregnant. Who did it? "

The professor can't stand it any longer. He made the last move, that is, let Chu Fengtou add "religious" elements.

A few days later, when the professor read Chu Fengtou's novel with a smug smile, he tore it to pieces.

"The princess of Vega is pregnant, OhMyGod! Who did it? "

It can be seen that this so-called element statement is not the standard for evaluating articles at all. Novels are very expensive, especially mini novels. But innovation is not just an unexpected plot, the most important thing is the selection of materials and personalized emotions. Moreover, the scope of personalization should be within the strange novelty, and it should not be obscure. Thousands of years of civilization development, no matter how renovated, can not get rid of the general plot framework. Both unconscious identification and conscious rebellion are based on the same psychological state. The hard-earned article is just a temporary skill, just a game, and usually everyone thinks it's too interesting, and then it's interesting and then it's gone.

Why do you want to be happy when you see a book and feel sad when you see a book? Excellent works are always the fruit of painstaking efforts. Even if the author thinks it is a game, it is actually the true self in a relaxed state. Now it seems that most people learn to write novels and pay more attention to what elements they have than novelists. In fact, it can be regarded as the necessity of practice and has no influence on the novel creation itself. I'm afraid even the evaluator will look at it from this angle. Just like everyone can learn to draw ink painting now, the standard of public participation in evaluation has promoted the decline of ink painting, and the reason is the same.

Generally speaking, the number of words in novels is more than 200,000, the number of words in short stories is within several thousand to 30,000, the number of words in novelettes is between 30,000 and 50,000 to 100,000, and the number of words in mini-novels, short stories, palm-reading novels and one-minute novels is generally within 2,000. I think the Internet is basically a mini-novel.

As for the characteristics of mini-novels, I might as well borrow other people's words to explain:

(a) know its micro, know its far and near. Few characters, simple plot. But small but fine, subtle and wonderful, with less wins more, micro reflects macro. Strong sense of reality, fast and light, full of life breath, but wrote the "far" of artistic realm, which makes people linger.

(2) Learn from others and be eclectic. It widely absorbs the advantages of other articles and artistic genres, and can be called "fuzzy novel".

(3) accurate materials and novel lenses. Micro-fiction is about a point on the surface, which can be called a "lens" in film and television. Flashback and supplementary narration in general short stories should be the description and connection of instant shots in mini-novels to avoid lengthy narration and explanation.

(4) Write something special and emphasize emotion. The description of characters in mini-novels is characterized by writing a certain aspect of the protagonist or writing the emotional state of the protagonist.

In this way, the novel is not a fixed thing, and it seems that most people have some misunderstandings about it. The first characteristic is obvious. Or with traces of China's subtle sense of justice since ancient times, similar to fables. Even simple love stories can show the gap between people, and even Aphrodite's magic can't make up for the deep gap. Such a simple story of love and non-love can be sublimated into the meaning of all mankind, not just a romantic night. Trust is not only a matter between lovers, but also a cornerstone of this society! The tendency of emotional psychological description is difficult for ordinary readers to understand and accept, which involves the second feature of mini-novels, that is, the fuzziness of genre.

Consciously diluting the plot is similar to prose narration, which is probably why others think some novels lack elements! But emotional description is precisely the development trend of micro-novels. If indifference is not understood and expressed by a chaotic stream of consciousness, the overlap between illusion and reality can just show an irrational mentality. But it is too obscure and disorganized, which is one of the reasons why this novel is not understood.

Most people still follow the classic ideas and even look at it with curiosity and excitement. Once art became something everyone liked, it began to decline, even though novels used to be so unattractive. But who knows if what is not understood today will become a classic tomorrow?