The Length of Novels
Spending an uncountable number of hours scouring the internet for ways on promoting my latest novel, "The Lonely Man: The Witch's Price," I came across a few sites that were discussing the appropriate lengths of fantasy novels.
They stated that lengths ranged anywhere from 80,000 to 180,000. I know this is personal opinion and all, seeing as how most of the fantasy lining bookstore shelves is easily at half a million words. Still, this got me to thinking a bit, seeing as how my current novel clocks in at what appears to be a measly 68,000 words. While only 12,000 words away from the short end of the spectrum, I couldn't help but think about what I could have done to bulk my novel up, to reach those 'acceptable' word counts (I considered BGB or Book Growth Bluster). In turn, this made me wonder what other might think when first starting out.
When I began seriously writing novels, some eight years ago, I just wrote the story. I didn't worry about length. I worried about the story. My first novel came in at 250,000 words. A gargantuan first book. And it was shit. In fact, it's still shit. I take it out occasionally and give it a skim, just to remind me of what I'm capable of producing. My next two novels were around 120,000 each. Pretty much in the middle of acceptable. That was until I merged the two and had another 250,000 word behemoth to my name. But again, the book wasn't all that great. It was a step up from my first, and a story I've contemplated returning to, but the word count is still massive.
The novels that I self-published last year, those of my "Paruus Histories" duology, reached the 160,000 word mark each. Which I feel is sufficient for a sprawling epic fantasy. Combined, they reach over 300,000 words, which I assume is fine since this total comes in the form of two books and not one.
Now, with "The Lonely Man: The Witch's Price," I'm looking at 68,000 words. What does this mean? It looks like my word counts are all over the place. Is there nothing of order? No. I suppose not. I don't write with length in mind. I don't edit with length in mind. I write (and edit) with story in mind. Now, certainly, I'm not arguing to classify 10,000 word works as novels. There's something be said of brevity in that aspect. And short stories are clearly that: short. But what makes a novel? And what sets it apart from a novella? Here I'm talking about adult fantasy novels, as other genres seem to have their own arbitrary lengths for classification.
Honestly, I don't think there's truly a line of demarcation. What's to say a book coming in at 65,000 words is a novel, but a book at 60,000 is a novella? What about the area in between? Is 61,000 a novel? It's all arbitrary. If an author writes a book and wants to market it as a novel, so be it. Maybe novellas are hot, and claiming one is the smart thing to do. So be it. Or maybe you want to call your 50,000 word work a long short story. Or a short novel (novella). Whatever. I'm losing myself here.
What I'm trying to get at--I think-- is that the importance should always be on the story. Write the story so that the story is complete. Don't worry about writing short if the story ends there. Don't worry about writing long if the story carries you there. Write the story.
I think we come away with too much filler and fluff when a target is sought. If I'm writing a chapter where A and B must get to C, and I tell myself that the chapter is going to be 2,000 words long. Well, if C is reached in 1,500 words after writing and editing, then I have to find 500 words to add to the chapter to reach my mark. That's 500 words I have no need for. That's 500 needless words a reader is going to read. That's 500 words that obviously are not a needed part of the story. I do not want those 500 words.
I wrote "The Lonely Man: The Witch's Price" with a goal in mind: For Mhets to have an awful time. That was to be the story. It was to grow from Mhets and his adventure. I had no end in sight. I wrote and the story came. When the story ended, I ended it. It didn't matter to me that it was only 68,000 words long. It was an interesting and entertaining story right there. I didn't need to add anything else. I'm sure that if I'd wanted to I could have ballooned the novel to something more akin to a fat fantasy novel. But that would have been a whole different story. I wanted this story.
So stop with the word count label. If your story is complete, let it end. If it's not, write on. The story will determine its length.
They stated that lengths ranged anywhere from 80,000 to 180,000. I know this is personal opinion and all, seeing as how most of the fantasy lining bookstore shelves is easily at half a million words. Still, this got me to thinking a bit, seeing as how my current novel clocks in at what appears to be a measly 68,000 words. While only 12,000 words away from the short end of the spectrum, I couldn't help but think about what I could have done to bulk my novel up, to reach those 'acceptable' word counts (I considered BGB or Book Growth Bluster). In turn, this made me wonder what other might think when first starting out.
When I began seriously writing novels, some eight years ago, I just wrote the story. I didn't worry about length. I worried about the story. My first novel came in at 250,000 words. A gargantuan first book. And it was shit. In fact, it's still shit. I take it out occasionally and give it a skim, just to remind me of what I'm capable of producing. My next two novels were around 120,000 each. Pretty much in the middle of acceptable. That was until I merged the two and had another 250,000 word behemoth to my name. But again, the book wasn't all that great. It was a step up from my first, and a story I've contemplated returning to, but the word count is still massive.
The novels that I self-published last year, those of my "Paruus Histories" duology, reached the 160,000 word mark each. Which I feel is sufficient for a sprawling epic fantasy. Combined, they reach over 300,000 words, which I assume is fine since this total comes in the form of two books and not one.
Now, with "The Lonely Man: The Witch's Price," I'm looking at 68,000 words. What does this mean? It looks like my word counts are all over the place. Is there nothing of order? No. I suppose not. I don't write with length in mind. I don't edit with length in mind. I write (and edit) with story in mind. Now, certainly, I'm not arguing to classify 10,000 word works as novels. There's something be said of brevity in that aspect. And short stories are clearly that: short. But what makes a novel? And what sets it apart from a novella? Here I'm talking about adult fantasy novels, as other genres seem to have their own arbitrary lengths for classification.
Honestly, I don't think there's truly a line of demarcation. What's to say a book coming in at 65,000 words is a novel, but a book at 60,000 is a novella? What about the area in between? Is 61,000 a novel? It's all arbitrary. If an author writes a book and wants to market it as a novel, so be it. Maybe novellas are hot, and claiming one is the smart thing to do. So be it. Or maybe you want to call your 50,000 word work a long short story. Or a short novel (novella). Whatever. I'm losing myself here.
What I'm trying to get at--I think-- is that the importance should always be on the story. Write the story so that the story is complete. Don't worry about writing short if the story ends there. Don't worry about writing long if the story carries you there. Write the story.
I think we come away with too much filler and fluff when a target is sought. If I'm writing a chapter where A and B must get to C, and I tell myself that the chapter is going to be 2,000 words long. Well, if C is reached in 1,500 words after writing and editing, then I have to find 500 words to add to the chapter to reach my mark. That's 500 words I have no need for. That's 500 needless words a reader is going to read. That's 500 words that obviously are not a needed part of the story. I do not want those 500 words.
I wrote "The Lonely Man: The Witch's Price" with a goal in mind: For Mhets to have an awful time. That was to be the story. It was to grow from Mhets and his adventure. I had no end in sight. I wrote and the story came. When the story ended, I ended it. It didn't matter to me that it was only 68,000 words long. It was an interesting and entertaining story right there. I didn't need to add anything else. I'm sure that if I'd wanted to I could have ballooned the novel to something more akin to a fat fantasy novel. But that would have been a whole different story. I wanted this story.
So stop with the word count label. If your story is complete, let it end. If it's not, write on. The story will determine its length.
No comments have been added yet.
