POLL- What would you consider a good length for a novel - Writers Forum

Bluenoseuk · 07-30-2004, 08:30 AM

Just would like your answers, please?

(I know this depends on a lot of things such as genre and plot, but I would like to know what you think in general terms). Thanks!!!

safari invasion · 07-30-2004, 11:01 AM

It actually depends a lot more on your meaning when you say "good". What do you mean by a "good" size?

sully474 · 07-30-2004, 11:44 AM

I don't think that there is a good length for a novel. Just write it, and when you hae expressed all of the ideas in a good fashion, the novel is done, regardless of the number of words.

Tori · 07-30-2004, 12:45 PM

I am currently struggling with this issue. I wrote my first and it is hanging out at a small 25,000 words. I know from reading around that it is only a novella and in order to be a novel it has to be at least 50,000. I am struggling with what I should do now. It is a tough choice because for me it is a done deal and I am satisfied with the piece. I just recently decided to put it in a drawer, work on something new, and maybe go back to it in a few months or so.

eleutheromaniac · 07-30-2004, 12:48 PM

This topic was pretty much discussed before (do a search), and the conclusion was that content is more important than length. Basically, if you try to lengthen or shrink your story to fit into a predetermined length, you wind up distorting the story.

Also, you should know that a page is generally considered 250 words.

War and Peace was over 1200 pages, Animal Farm was under 120. The Prince was only around 60. In other words, it just doesn't matter. If your book is good, people will read it, regardless of length.

Tori · 07-30-2004, 01:21 PM

goodness

and great advice

Bluenoseuk · 07-30-2004, 02:20 PM

What I mean by 'good' is a satisfactory length. I've read in many books on the subject of writing a novel, and the most common theme throughout is the fact that publishers will be very reluctant to accpet anything less than 60, 000 words. Especially from a new writer. Someone like Stephen King could well get away with it. To be more explicit, publishers won't touch a book that is under 60, 000 words, unless you're a genius.

sully474 · 07-30-2004, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluenoseuk

To be more explicit, publishers won't touch a book that is under 60, 000 words, unless you're a genius.

Great, I shouldn't have any problems with short novels then.

Actually, I probably couldn't get something published over the 'limit' either.

B1ot · 07-30-2004, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sully474

I don't think that there is a good length for a novel. Just write it, and when you hae expressed all of the ideas in a good fashion, the novel is done, regardless of the number of words.

Agreed.

gabriella · 07-30-2004, 09:22 PM

Quote:

I've read in many books on the subject of writing a novel, and the most common theme throughout is the fact that publishers will be very reluctant to accpet anything less than 60, 000 words.

That's because books are about $7-$10 (in canada.) So if the book is really small, then people won't want to spend that much money on something so small unless they know the author and that it would be worth it.

Generally, for fantasy I like trilogies.

Alys R. · 07-31-2004, 01:46 AM

If it's over 100,000 words it should be turned into multiple books, a series. What a waste of binding material.

Seriously though, quality > quantity. It's like playing the piano. It doesn't matter if you play a 2-page bach invention or a 16-page concerto. A judge hears the first two measures and s/he might as well as you to stop because if it's excellent at the beginning, it's going to stay the same the whole way through.

But I STILL don't like going through long long novels. Things could be expressed in fewer words.

stiltzkin · 07-31-2004, 06:22 AM

Like eleutheromaniac said, Tori, to alter a story based upon word count would distort it - especially after you've written and are happy with it!

gabriella · 07-31-2004, 09:16 AM

Quote:

If it's over 100,000 words it should be turned into multiple books, a series. What a waste of binding material.

I hate really really thick books. The thing is, I don't like bending the spine in books, so I'll curve the covers outward to read it, and if it's really thick, I have to hold it at certain angles in order to not bend the spine. (Bent books are my biggest pet peeves, and I hate them more than anything.) Although the problem with that is it keeps my hands in one place on the book, and I read for long periods of time, so I usually get an orangey type thing on the pages from sweat. Bah, so annoying.

Quote:

Like eleutheromaniac said, Tori, to alter a story based upon word count would distort it - especially after you've written and are happy with it!

I disagree, as always. Sometimes it does distort the book, but sometimes it doesn't. At first I had decided that my book was going to be about as thick as the Dragonlance Legends Trilogy... and I had it all done. And then, when I finished the Sovereign Stone Trilogy, I realized that that was more fitting to my story, because so much has happened and, even though I'm making another series as a prequel to the one I'm making now, so much in the world has changed that I want to mention it. So I labored over the outline, twisting things around, adding characters after characters so that the readers could really come to know what the world was like (ie, more pages.) And then when I was done, I had various characters, various plots that I all loved and added SO MUCH MORE to my novel (in terms of quality, of course.) I went from 40 chapters to 80, and it occured to me that with all these characters that were first intended just to explain the world and races, I needed MORE chapters to really tie everything together, because you could sort of tell who were the filler characters.

Somtimes, when you're thinking about quantity more than quality, you begin to think of things for your novel that you would have thought were pointless, filler, and outrageous and never given them a thought. But when you think about quantity, you actually THINK about those ideas, and hopefully you'll switch to quality after you've given the ideas a good thought, mold them, and then piece them into your novel where they belong.

eleutheromaniac · 07-31-2004, 05:14 PM

But in your case, you added pages because you wanted/needed to, not because of some predetermined quota to make your book more appealing and marketable, as I believe is the case with 'writers' such as John Grisham.

Airborneguy · 07-31-2004, 08:40 PM

I don't like reading huge books, although I agree that the story is more important than the size. My book, just finished officially today, topped out at 99,683 words (I couldn't break the mark)!