Thread: I have 5,891 words - is that a lot or not especially?

I wrote a story about 5 years ago on paper and then a couple of years ago I typed it up. I think I have about half of it typed up. Just found out how to do word count and the bit typed up is 5,891 words. Is that quite substantial or is it fairly easy to have written that amount? I thought it seemed like a fair bit, but then i read that an average novel is about 80,000 words (yikes!) The part I have on paper I am going to type up this week I imagine is another 5,000 words.

Is 5,000 words a lot? Is 10,000? I was thinking of typing up all that is on paper (the other 5,000 words) and growing the story to novel length. The thing is the story is quite personal and not really written to be read at the time, so I am not sure. I think it has potential though.

So, I am curious. Like the title says: I have 5,891 words - is that a lot or not especially? How long would that take a writer to write on average? (I wrote it every night for an hour or so one cold bleak winter )

Thank you

In hindsight I realize that actually it isn't that much at all. It felt like a lot! Especially as a lot of it was on small sized paper etc.. hmm
maybe i should just forget about this one.
If you had written 10,000 words and you felt like it wasn't perfect, would you carry on or just start something new from scratch?

that depends on what exactly it is supposed to be. if it is a short story then 5,000 words is an average to decent length. it's definitely not long enough for a novella (usually at least 20,000 words) nor even a novelette (though closer, novelettes start at about 8,000 words). as for novels, 5,000 words would be the length of the average 1-3 chapters so no, 5,000 words is not much i'm afraid. if i were you i'd read through what you have very carefully and if you think it's pretty much fine at its present length then work on making it into a decent short story. that's your safer option since at 5,000 words you can chop a fair chunk out and still be at a decent publishable length if you think you can add more (significantly more) then go all out and aim for a novel. i wouldn't waste time with novelettes or novellas however since few places will publish them.

For a short story, that's about right. For a novel, not quite. As you mentioned, most novels average 80,000. Look at it this way, though. It's 5,000 words closer to your goal. If you write 5,000 words a month, you'll have close to a novel inside a year.

It doesn't matter what other people write per day. It's what you write that matters. Me telling you that I write, on average, at least a thousand words every day isn't going to make you feel better. If you want to improve your word count, I would advise you to do in increments. If you get 5,000 one month, aim for 6,000 the next. Until you're getting to a doable goal of 20,000 a month. That's 666 words a day. Pay no heed to the occultism of that number.

Good luck.

Thanks a lot, I agree with you and appreciate the advice. I have a further question if I may, when you feel you have written a great short story, do you submit it to people, or is writing a book of short stories the goal mainly when you write them (obviously there are lots of people that just write for pleasure, but I am talking about people that want their work published in some way) One good short story on it's own, where would you go with that?

5,800 is a fair amount. Would take me about two weeks to do that, writing everyday. As mentioned above, it's a rather chunky short story, or half of a novelette, or a quarter of a novella. I think I read somewhere that a novel could be anything from 40,000 on. 80,000 is the typical number thrown about, though.

And I say Bah! to this idea that novelettes/novellas are a waste of time. If it's quality, it'll get published.

i remember when i used to think writing 5000 words was quite an accomplishment. that was only like a couple months ago when just
working on short stories. now i have over 5000 on this longer piece and all i can do is sigh and think...well, you only have about 60,000
more to go. and then i'll worry whether or not it's too short, if it ends at that length.

yeah, john is correct about novels. they can be as little as 40,000 but i believe, with a few exceptions, novels of that length would tend to be in the young adult or a similar genre. i disagree about novelettes and novellas being a wise length to aim for though. while its true that there are stories of those lengths published and that something of staggering genius would probably get published regardless of its length, logic says its much tougher for the half-decent-to-good novella/novelette to get published than the half-decent-to-good short story or novel simply because there's fewer resources out there for those lengths of work. if you seriously want to get published its simple pragmatism not to disadvantage yourself by sending in something that may be rejected because of its length, at least not if you have the choice. that said, if you write something that happens to fall into the novella or novelette word-count and to extend it or reduce it would be at a detriment to the work then that's a different story. like i said, if something is good enough it will be published whether it's 8,000 words or 800,000 words. i'm just warning against the kind of thinking i've witnessed among certain new wannabe novelists who find out that novelettes and novellas exist and instantly think they're a good idea because they're a quicker, easier substitute for taking the time to write a more substantial piece, when in fact quite the opposite is true and any time they might save on writing a full novel will most likely have to be spent trying to find a publisher who will pay money for them

Originally Posted by Gisele9

Thanks a lot, I agree with you and appreciate the advice. I have a further question if I may, when you feel you have written a great short story, do you submit it to people, or is writing a book of short stories the goal mainly when you write them (obviously there are lots of people that just write for pleasure, but I am talking about people that want their work published in some way) One good short story on it's own, where would you go with that?

Short stories are usually published one at a time in magazines, on e-zines, or in literary journals. If you Google 'markets for short stories' you'll get an idea of what markets are out there. Collections of short stories are typically published in book form after an author has become established.

Originally Posted by Gisele9

Thanks a lot, I agree with you and appreciate the advice. I have a further question if I may, when you feel you have written a great short story, do you submit it to people, or is writing a book of short stories the goal mainly when you write them (obviously there are lots of people that just write for pleasure, but I am talking about people that want their work published in some way) One good short story on it's own, where would you go with that?

You submit to magazines or anthologies (collections of themed stories). Generally, it's pretty hard to sell an anthology of your own stories unless you've already made a reputation for yourself. Here's a site that lists markets for writers to submit to. Ralan.com - Home Page.

Take care,

JohnB

Originally Posted by Gisele9

Thanks a lot, I agree with you and appreciate the advice. I have a further question if I may, when you feel you have written a great short story, do you submit it to people, or is writing a book of short stories the goal mainly when you write them (obviously there are lots of people that just write for pleasure, but I am talking about people that want their work published in some way) One good short story on it's own, where would you go with that?

generally only well known names get their short stories published as collections.

here's an extensive list of magazines you can send your short stories to, though. listed A-Z.

P&E: Listings

Maybe it depends on how fast you can type. If you look at your work and realize you could go a lot deeper into the short story then perhaps expand it and write a full length novel. Also it depends on the quality. I can type 5000 a day when doing a first draft, but it is likely to be rubbish quality and will be subjected to serious rewriting in the 2nd draft.

It's more than 5,890 words, I can tell you that.

Originally Posted by Gisele9

Thanks a lot, I agree with you and appreciate the advice. I have a further question if I may, when you feel you have written a great short story, do you submit it to people, or is writing a book of short stories the goal mainly when you write them (obviously there are lots of people that just write for pleasure, but I am talking about people that want their work published in some way) One good short story on it's own, where would you go with that?

You can do both.

You could always post it in the Writers Workshop forum to get some feedback on it, if you like. I am sure you will get lots of good advice on the story itself, and where to go with it next.