Thoughts on Word Counts
I am coming up on the halfway point in my next book and, like most writers, I find myself wondering if it is going to be long enough, or if I am going to fall miserably short of my goal. When the doubt sets in, I do what every other self-respecting writer does. I immediately stop typing and Google word counts, reading article after article and hoping to justify where my book might fall.
The best advice, of course, is just to write. Write your story and worry about word count during your edits. We all know this, but it is hard to follow when you end up somewhere between 70 and 80k and the popular books flying off the shelves are clocking in at way over 100k. There are even some middle grade books that make my book look more like a novella.
What am I doing differently? Am I not being descriptive enough? Is there not enough plot on the pages? Do my characters fall flat?
More than likely, your story is fine. If your plot is thought out and your characters are well-rounded then there is nothing to worry about. Especially if this is the first draft of your novel. I don't know about you, but my first draft is always crap. I basically get the major points down on paper (On really good days, I feel like Dickens. I don't want to talk about bad days.) and during edits is when I can really dig into the prose and the description. I started with about seven full edits on a book and, now that I am on book four, I can get it down to three or four. When your first draft is succinct, word count usually goes up.
I go overboard when I add on the next draft because, you know, shits 'n giggles, which inevitably means that something will have to be cut. And just like adding too much, I trim the fat ruthlessly. I can always add it back in if I need it later, or cut it. Whatever I am feeling at the time.
I know, you're wondering what the hell any of this has to do with word counts. Let me put it to you this way: STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHER WRITERS!
Sure word count is important, but how long or short a story should be based on genre is open to interpretation. I write Dark Fantasy for young adults. I call it Dark Fantasy but a publisher or a reader might decide it is something else. My current books are hard to categorize because they are stand-alone novels based on ballets. Of course there is romance and tragedy, but there is also horror and fairy tale elements. I try to keep my books in the 80 to 90k range. There is no reason for my book to surpass 100k because it doesn't take me that long to build my world or introduce my story. The larger books you see on the shelves are usually sci-fi. Let's face it, if I were writing something set in space or centered around time travel, it would take a whole lot more words to get my point across.
But, you say, big books are impressive. And to that I say, yes, they can be. If you have ever carried around a copy of War and Peace then you know what I mean. People can be intimidated by you if you are seen reading a very heavy, very sophisticated title. At least, I am intimidated by those people. Large books make us feel smarter and if reading it makes you feel that way, then surely writing one makes it true?
I'm not going to answer that last question. That's for you to decide for yourself. If your book is short but it is full of action and romance and witty one-liners, great. If your book is the longest manuscript in human history but you know, as its writer, that every single line is necessary, then wonderful. It's your novel. The only person who can tell you different is your publisher - and probably your editor. Definitely, your agent. But yeah, it's your book.
So, in short, stop Googling and write!
And, if you still can't take my awesome advice and just want to double-check word count for your genre one last time, here you go:
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/word-count-for-novels-and-childrens-books-the-definitive-post
http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2009/07/word-count.html
http://www.litrejections.com/word-count/
The best advice, of course, is just to write. Write your story and worry about word count during your edits. We all know this, but it is hard to follow when you end up somewhere between 70 and 80k and the popular books flying off the shelves are clocking in at way over 100k. There are even some middle grade books that make my book look more like a novella.
What am I doing differently? Am I not being descriptive enough? Is there not enough plot on the pages? Do my characters fall flat?
More than likely, your story is fine. If your plot is thought out and your characters are well-rounded then there is nothing to worry about. Especially if this is the first draft of your novel. I don't know about you, but my first draft is always crap. I basically get the major points down on paper (On really good days, I feel like Dickens. I don't want to talk about bad days.) and during edits is when I can really dig into the prose and the description. I started with about seven full edits on a book and, now that I am on book four, I can get it down to three or four. When your first draft is succinct, word count usually goes up.
I go overboard when I add on the next draft because, you know, shits 'n giggles, which inevitably means that something will have to be cut. And just like adding too much, I trim the fat ruthlessly. I can always add it back in if I need it later, or cut it. Whatever I am feeling at the time.
I know, you're wondering what the hell any of this has to do with word counts. Let me put it to you this way: STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHER WRITERS!
Sure word count is important, but how long or short a story should be based on genre is open to interpretation. I write Dark Fantasy for young adults. I call it Dark Fantasy but a publisher or a reader might decide it is something else. My current books are hard to categorize because they are stand-alone novels based on ballets. Of course there is romance and tragedy, but there is also horror and fairy tale elements. I try to keep my books in the 80 to 90k range. There is no reason for my book to surpass 100k because it doesn't take me that long to build my world or introduce my story. The larger books you see on the shelves are usually sci-fi. Let's face it, if I were writing something set in space or centered around time travel, it would take a whole lot more words to get my point across.
But, you say, big books are impressive. And to that I say, yes, they can be. If you have ever carried around a copy of War and Peace then you know what I mean. People can be intimidated by you if you are seen reading a very heavy, very sophisticated title. At least, I am intimidated by those people. Large books make us feel smarter and if reading it makes you feel that way, then surely writing one makes it true?
I'm not going to answer that last question. That's for you to decide for yourself. If your book is short but it is full of action and romance and witty one-liners, great. If your book is the longest manuscript in human history but you know, as its writer, that every single line is necessary, then wonderful. It's your novel. The only person who can tell you different is your publisher - and probably your editor. Definitely, your agent. But yeah, it's your book.
So, in short, stop Googling and write!
And, if you still can't take my awesome advice and just want to double-check word count for your genre one last time, here you go:
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/word-count-for-novels-and-childrens-books-the-definitive-post
http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2009/07/word-count.html
http://www.litrejections.com/word-count/
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