Some recommended reading for you, from other places on the interwebs.
A narrative will attempt to move the reader from one state to another. There’s a question of acceleration with word length: a short story must take off very quickly and land with great precision, while a novel can take its time lifting off and setting down anywhere that looks interesting along the way to a leisurely destination. It’s the difference between travelling by plane or hot air balloon. Just as the novella is not a long short story or a short novel, a novella is not a jet fighter dragging a particoloured balloon twice its size. A novella is overland travel by foot, and the length of the journey will depend on the nature of the landscape and the unique qualities of the traveller.
From Kill Your Novellas, by A.S. Patric, over on the Kill Your Darlings Website.
