Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Young Adult word count

This is topic Young Adult word count in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Crank (Member # 7354) on :

I'm posting this word count issue separately because I do not wish to inadvertently hijack Zero's short book thread.

I've read in more than one place that young adult novels should come in under 60K words. Unfortunately, my story pole vaulted over that mark some time ago (it's currently around 75K). I find myself in a 'Tweener Zone: I've whittled as much off the story as I feel will still retain the flow and the message, so should I offer it up to an agent anyway?

Anyone with experience in this area? I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts.

S!
S!...C!

Posted by Zero (Member # 3619) on :

I wish I could answer your question, as it is I can't. But I'm curious about this too. Oh and thanks for the respect regarding my thread, but know I'll happily share my thread with you or anyone, I'm a pretty loud person when I want to be, so if it meanders off topic I am pretty good at pulling it back

Now, back to YA word counts.

[This message has been edited by Zero (edited July 29, 2008).]

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

quote:

I've read in more than one place that young adult novels should come in under 60K words.

I've heard 60,000 to 80,000. Hell, Harry Potter, Inkspell and Eragon overshot those limits by far. If the prose is really tight, and the story really good, I'd send it in anyway.

Posted by satate (Member # 8082) on :

I agree with IB. The rules have changed with YA. Used to be the kids wouldn't read books that are too long. But Harry Potter changed it all. Now you have third graders hefting around a 900 page Harry Potter book. 'Sigh' you don't know what a great sight it is to see your elementary students reading those huge books. I could just kiss JK Rowling.

Posted by Zero (Member # 3619) on :

quote:
I've heard 60,000 to 80,000. Hell, Harry Potter, Inkspell and Eragon overshot those limits by far. If the prose is really tight, and the story really good, I'd send it in anyway.

I think you're right. But wasn't Eragon originally self-published? And didn't harry Potter get several rejections first?

Posted by JeanneT (Member # 5709) on :

The word count on YA novels seems to be steadily going up so as long as you have it as tight as you can, I wouldn't sweat if it's longer.

Posted by Crank (Member # 7354) on :

Thanx for the feedback!

I was already leaning towards submitting my YA story with its current word count, and the feedback I got here convinced me that entire scenes didn't have to end up on the cutting room floor. Instead, I took the approach these past few days of reading through the story from start to finish (not including the last chapter, which isn't finished) and checking for flow and consistency. Any words that got trimmed were extra syllables that added nothing. Any passages that got whacked was extra motion or thought that distracted from the story's purpose. With just this process, I have cut over a thousand words already.

Of course, by the time I conclude the last chapter, those thousand words, along with a thousand more of their friends, will probably get added right back to the count.

S!
S!...C!

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

quote:

I think you're right. But wasn't Eragon originally self-published? And didn't harry Potter get several rejections first?

I don't think either are relevant, because once they have a market, publishers will buy them. I'm not saying put together a 200,000 Ya book and expect it to sell, but the aforementioned have paved the way toward greater leeway. And besides, how does Harry Potter's rejections differ from any other first-time-author's rejections? Your bound to pile up some rejections anyway, but unless a publisher/editor claims to want it if it is shorter, that's probably not the reason for the rejection--and if they do, by all means, trim it!!!

Posted by Zero (Member # 3619) on :

Touche.