Difference between "novel" and "fiction"
Both novel and fiction refer to a book in which the story is just imaginary. But what's the difference between them and what are the scenarios to use them right?
Solution 1:
Fiction is a literary genre that includes novels, but it also includes other forms such as short stories.
Solution 2:
"Fiction" refers to any made-up story, anything presented as not being true but purely for entertainment, education, etc.
Within the broad category of fiction, we divide stories up by length. The shortest are "short stories". A "novel" means a book-length story. In between is the "novella": you might fit 3 or 4 novellas into a reasonable-length book. If a story takes more than one book, it becomes a "series". If there are exactly three books in the series, it's called a "trilogy". (I'm not aware of specific names for a series with four or five books or any number but three. I'm not sure why that gets a specific name.)
Sometimes people attach specific word-counts to these names. Like they will say that a novel is a story of 40,000 words or more, a novella is 20,000 to 40,000 words, and anything shorter is a short story. As far as I know there's no standard in the publishing business, though. These are just ballpark numbers.
These terms all imply prose, as opposed to poetry.
Solution 3:
Fiction is the act of writing something that isn't true:
A literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact.
The word fiction can also as a label refer to longer works of imaginative prose.
The category of literature comprising works of this kind, including novels and short stories.
A novel on the other hand, is a bound written work of length:
A fictional prose narrative of considerable length, typically having a plot that is unfolded by the actions, speech, and thoughts of the characters.
There are two additional things to keep in mind about novel versus fiction.
While several novels are fiction, they do not necessarily have to be fiction to be novels. Truman Capote's In Cold Blood is one example of a non-fiction novel.
Also, imaginative works of fiction can be of just about any length, from a few hundred to tens or even hundreds of thousands of words.
To define and market these written works, the publishing industry has a loose set of guidelines that define writing based on length:
- Micro-Fiction: Under 100 words
- Flash Fiction: 100-1,000 words
- Short Story: 1,000-7,500 words
- Novelette: 7,500 - 20,000 words
- Novella: 20,000 - 50,000 words
- Novel: 50,000-100,000 words
- Epic: 110,000+ words
(Note: This is just one definition of length, but it is generally accepted that a novel is at least 50,000 words, with 70,000 words being the average length of a modern novel.)