Any takers out there for a nice bit of SF drama hot off the presses? Oh well, it was worth a try. I’ll get out my hair shirt, stick pebbles in my shoes, invest in a self-mortification programme (I expect there’s an iPhone app for that), and join the supplicants’ queue like everyone else. How on earth do you writers of novels cope? A couple of thousand words and I’m wrapped up and ready to move on! Attention span of a gnat and no stamina, clearly.
Dr Suzanne Conboy-Hill 
Why not write stories? A collection of them? I’m not at all convinced that story writers and novel writers are necessarily one and the same. I struggle more with stories. That’s not to say I don’t struggle with novels. And now that I’ve said nothing at all of worth, I will slink away. Nevermind. You didn’t see me.
Oh, wait, here’s the secret: Fall in love with your characters. Then, you’ll never want to quit writing about them. You may end up with a whole series. 😉
Could be academic conditioning – years of writing essays and journal articles that clearly are not going to be even minor novellas. I DID see you, you said sensible things. Maybe I’m a writer stories. And I do really become involved with my characters; there is a certain pride in developing a character that generates committment from a reader in a very short space of time. I thought that might be lazy but maybe it isn’t and I’d like to be good at that. Thank you for coming in with your insightful thoughts.