“What’s the age range?” I asked a multi-published at my local OCC/RWA Chapter monthly meeting.
“I’m thinking of aiming for older children,” I told her.
“That would be ages eight to twelve, then. In that case, it should be between 30,000 and 50,000 words.”
The precision of her answer was satisfying, but it also piqued my curiosity.
“Why that particular length?”
“It’s just considered to be the ‘right’ length at the moment for that age range,” she explained. “Not too long, not too short.”
This ‘Goldilocks’ principle is good general advice to keep in mind, but there are also more specific factors to consider that will help you nail the ‘right’ length for whatever genre book you’re writing. While you should work to your natural style, it’s advisable to be aware of and (as much as possible) write to the length that publisher and readers expect (logon to a publisher’s website for ‘publisher-specific’ guidelines.)
Type of book and target audience
You can hone in on an idea of ‘how long’ simply by categorizing what kind of book you’re writing and its target audience. Clearly, any six-year-olds without the miraculous intellect of Roald Dahl’s Matilda aren’t going to want to read something the length of A Tale of Two Cities. Similarly, most adults won’t be very interested in a 40-page picture book.
Most of the data I’ll be using throughout this article was sourced from Writer’s Digest and personal experience.
Children’s picture book: 500–600 words over 32–48 pages.
Children’s chapter book: 1,000–10,000 words.
Middle grade: 20,000–50,000 words.
Young Adult (YA): 40,000–70,000 words.
Flash fiction: 500 words or less.
Short Story: 5,000–10,000 words.
Novella: 10,000–40,000 words.
Novel: Anything over 40,000 words. Anything over 110,000 words is an ‘epic’.
Adult literary and commercial fiction: 80,000–100,000 words is considered to be the ‘Goldilocks’ zone, though you could get away with 70,000 words minimum and 109,000 words max.
Genre
Again, when considering the authority of agents and publishers, “adhering to the expected word count demonstrates that you understand your market.” The ‘right’ answer to ‘how long should my book be?’ is dictated by the audience’s expectations.
Genre has more influence on book length than you might think...
Here’s a guide to the recommended lengths for genre books.
Sci-fi/Fantasy: 90,000–120,000, anything over 150,000 words might be testing for your readers. As I just touched on above, books in these genres are allowed and expected to run longer than others. This is due to the amount of world building required to introduce a reader to a fictional setting, but be careful not to let this expectation manipulate your natural style.
Historical: As above.
Romance: 50,000–100,000 words. The wide range for this genre is because of the number of sub-genres that it can divide into: supernatural, erotica, historical, ‘chick-lit’, etc. It’s also worth bearing in mind that longer romance novels seem to be the trend du jour, with bestsellers Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey both comfortably over 100,000 words.
Crime/Mystery/Thriller/Horror: 70,000–90,000 words. Suspense is key to all of these genres. Pacing is vital in creating suspense, which means it couldn’t be any more important to nail the word count.
Personal style
While you should certainly keep the data I’ve provided in mind, being too prescriptive about sticking to word counts will only impede your personal writing style. If you end up way under the standard word count, you know that you either need to slow the pace a little or flesh out some underdeveloped areas.
How are your word counts? What word count is your 'comfort zone'?
I am happiest between 50,000 - 60,000 words. However, I am more comfortable deleting words, rather than increasing my word count.
Where do you fall in the 'word-count' comfort zone?
Readers. what length of novel is your favorite?
Bonus:
Since it is Friday the 13th, I thought I'd add a little bit of history concerning the 'unlucky day'.
Just like walking under a ladder, crossing paths with a black cat or breaking a mirror, many people hold fast to the belief that Friday the 13th brings bad luck.
While Western cultures have historically associated the number 12 with completeness (there are 12 days of Christmas, 12 months and zodiac signs, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 gods of Olympus and 12 tribes of Israel, just to name a few examples), its successor 13 has a long history as a sign of bad luck.
Fear of the number 13 has even earned a psychological term: triskaidekaphobia.
What bad things happened on Friday 13th?
On Friday, October 13, 1307, officers of King Philip IV of France arrested hundreds of the Knights Templar, a powerful religious and military order formed in the 12th century for the defense of the Holy Land.
Imprisoned on charges of various illegal behaviors (but really because the king wanted access to their financial resources), many Templars were later executed. Some cite the link with the Templars as the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition, but like many legends involving the Templars and their history, the truth remains murky.
How do you feel about Friday the 13th? Are you apprehensive? Do you stay indoors?
Or are you like me? I go about my business and count the days remaining until I can decorate, and plan my 'spooktacular' Halloween fun day, for my grandchildren.
Happy Reading & Writing!
Connie
BookBub
www.novelsbyconnievines.com
https://books2read.com/Lynx
Seems whenever I go into my manuscript to delete words, I increase them. I start revising, thinking this sounds better...now I have too many! And Fri. the 13 can be fun or scary depending on your beliefs. I vote for fun.
ReplyDelete50-60K is my comfort zone, too, but very few of my books have actually fallen there. I'd rather read short, too, but I never consider a book's length when I buy it.
ReplyDeleteMy first date with my husband was on a Friday the 13th. We've been married over 32 years! Kind of lucky for us!
ReplyDeleteI have a tendency to write long. My books are at least 85 - 100K. I often need to go in and chop huge amounts. My next book in my Storms of New England series was originally 125K. I cut it to 105K and am now doing edits trying to cut a few thousand more words. I have a friend who writes the shorter 50K Harlequins and she is always short on words. I usually offer to give her all the words I cut.
Lovely and accurate post, Connie. Thanks for these timely reminders to keep readers' expectations in mind.
ReplyDeleteI was born on the 13th so consider it lucky, and on a Friday even more so. Every 7 or so years (considering leap year) my birthday is Friday the 13th.
ReplyDeleteDo hotels still skip the 13th floor and call it the 14th?
I love Friday the 13th lore, thanks for adding it in to your post! :)
ReplyDeleteI have no feelings toward Friday the 13th lore, but I will admit some weird stuff happens on that day!
ReplyDeleteAnd word count! Ugh. I hate worrying about it. I just want to tell the story and wherever it ends is where it ends. But...gotta keep consistent!
I have a chart I received long ago from Writers Digest that gives the word counts of every work from short poem to epic manuscript. *g* The thing that has changed is that 60K seems to be considered long books now. As to Friday the 13, it's just another day of the week. I'm not superstitious at all which is probably a rebellion of sorts since my mom was extremely superstitious. *LOL*
ReplyDelete