A novel is a kind of rabbit hole. New and interesting, it leads to your living outside your own personal experience. It is an adventure told in an interesting way. Novels invite you temporarily to abandon your own world and enter a new one. You may be able to see your own character flaws and avoid some mistakes in your own life – if you read carefully. 

In this course, you have learned about the elements of a short story: 

• character
• conflict
• plot
• point of view
• setting
• theme

Novels, similar to short stories, contain these elements. However, although a short story is similar to a TV show, novels resemble full-length movies.

Short Story	Novel
A short story is short, as is a television show.	A novel is longer, much like a full-length movie.
A short story considers one character, one single event, and/or one single episode.	A novel usually involves multiple characters introduced throughout the novel, and multiple conflicts, subplots, and twists.
A short story may be 10 to 7 000 words.	A novel is about 40 000 to 120 000 words.

Even if you are not an avid reader, you have viewed, and probably will continue to experience, lengthy films or plays. Therefore, gaining an understanding of a longer style of communication is important.

By reading a novel, complete with plot and subplots, conflict, and more developed characters, you will

• become engrossed in a good read
• improve your comprehension and self-expression
• broaden your life experience
• examine other points of view by analyzing complex characters