MEShammas

Well guys, my novel as it stands is now about 12,300 words, 38 pages (leaving space after every chapter [rest of page]), and written in Times New Roman in 10 point font (double-spaced). It is 10 chapters and a prologue (thriller novel).

I understand that people say that 250 words a page (1 inch margins, courier, etc.) is the way a novel transitions usually (meaning 400 pages is 100,000 words), but I have trouble envisioning that.

Can someone please do me the honor of putting in perspective how much 12,300 words will fill in an average novel (pages), and perhaps even find me a "converter".

Ofcourse, the font in the novel itself matters, etc.... A good novel to compare size of font, amount of words per page, etc. to would be Da Vinci Code or some such.

As always, thanks much.

EDIT: To clear it up, the novel when finished will be 125,000 words (rougly). This is just how it stands so far.

Shawn

You have a short story, not a novel. It wouldn't be enough words to print cost-effectively in a book.

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MEShammas

No, no, no. I am not done yet, just wondering so far. The novel itself will be about 125,000 words.

Azmakna

500,000 is seen as a novel. you've got a ways to go

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sixlivesdown

500,000???

Unless you're a best-selling author that the publishers are very sure they can sell, they'd never take something that long. First-time novels are usually between 70,000-100,000 , and allowed to be a little longer for fantasy/scifi. But nothing like 500,000

Azmakna

50,000 lol typo fantasy novels are usually longer of course

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Banzai

100,000 words is roughly equivalent to 400 pages in a novel. Of course this is only a rough guide, and in actual fact the figure depends on font size, paper size, margin size, average length of words, and so on. But I use that as my framework.

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CaptainFreedom

I wouldn't worry about it until you're about half way done. Then you can check how many words you have and how much is left of your story.

As far as how big that would be in a book, they can do a lot with the font size and Structure of a book. Go to a bookstore and look at an Elmore Leonard book, then compare it to a Stephen King book. You'll see that the Leonard book is probably only about 75k words (400 pages of big print) and the King book is probably more like 150k+ (550 pages of small print).

You'll want your book to be between 80k-100k if you don't want to have trouble breaking into the industry. I have the impression that queries are mostly filtered by interns who have probably been given some very basic instructions. (word count, typos/font/format in query, etc..) So, if you're not within the guidelines the agent gave to the intern, he'll probably never see it.

CF

mammamaia

mandated ms format is 12 pt serifed font [courier or times], double-spaced with 1-1.25" margins...

the writer does not choose the font for the book, so forget about how the pages will look or how many words will be on each one, either in the book or your ms...

you need to know only how many words your ms has and then round the total off to the nearest 100/500 when it's completed and you query agents/publishers... optimum size, as the capt. noted, is 80-100k for a first novel by an unknown writer...

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MEShammas

Thanks for actually answering my question .

Also thanks mama and captain.

P.S.-- If I can squeeze the novel into 100,000 words instead of 125,000 that would be great, though I'm not sure.

Anyway, thanks again all.

lisajane

Just write it, all 125,000 words, and then when you edit it, you'll cut out stuff. You may hit 100,000 then.

It's generally about 250 words per page, but that's not up for you to decide.

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JP Wagner

write the story, then worry about length when it's done. while 80-100 thousand is the average every agent/ publisher has it's own standards. (my novel, finsihed, is only 70,000 words, but every single agent i've emailed asking for their word count guidlines said they will take 70,000, 65,000, even 60,000 words.) and on the other end, 120,000,140,000 one guy even said 200,000.

but 12 point font only. and double spaced for manuscript format, so like they said, roughly 250 words per page.

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harishankar

Length doesn't matter in my view. How long you can sustain a reader's interest in your writing should be the concern. If you can do it in less than 200 pages, fine. If you can do it over 500 pages, that should be fine too.

I've read good and bad novels of all sizes. Each author finds his own comfortable length.

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MEShammas

Yup very true. Books like "The Little Prince" or "Harry Potter" exemplify that.

wmd

When I started writing I would focus on how long my ms should be and how many words are "supposed" to be on each page... I would even count words on pages of books to find a nice average... and then I realized something...

all of this has nothing to do with writing. Just write it, everything else is just a means of procrastination.

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