How Long Should a Novel Be? No, Really?

[ozma914]

Writing instructors, editors, publishers, they all say the same thing: When writing a piece of fiction, start at the beginning; go to the end; then stop.

Don't pad it. Don't be too sparse. Just make your story as long as it needs to be, no longer. It's good advice.

It's also wrong.

Comments

[kazzy_cee]

I think that I look at how much someone is charging for a book and how long it is. I’m getting tired of books by well known authors which are tiny short stories for the price of a novella (Ben Aaronovitch I’m looking at you!).

I’m not sure how long a short story/novella or novel is supposed to be ….. so as long as they are described correctly and the price is right I’m OK with that.

[ozma914]

It's one of those things where the people in the industry decided on how something should be, even though the readers generally just don't care as long as they get a good read. Personally, I think the average novel is getting too long, considering the shortened attention span of many readers.

[cbtreks]

I suspect that's such a personal preference that it's kind of silly for publishers to put a word count except for "anything longer than a novella" (10,000-40,000 words). NaNoWriMo says 50,000.

I personally get really annoyed with super long novels - you know, 800-1000+ pages - though I've read plenty of them and even enjoyed some, like The Stand. But my middle sister thinks the longer the better - 600 pages is on the short side!

[ozma914]

I've been wanting to read The Stand, but something tells me I need to work up the energy for it, first. But I did make it through all the Game of Thrones novels, so I can definitely read long. I'm with you, though--personally, my comfort zone is somewhere in the area of 60-90,000 words.

I'm in the middle of editing my newest novel, and it's hanging right in there at 60,000 words. But I'm also targeting a specific market (category romance), and that's how they roll.