Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Novel lengths

This is topic Novel lengths in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :

A couple hatrackers have asked about how long a novel should be. Today, as with other novel subjects, it seems to be changing with e-publishing. Here is a blog post with a history of lengths and comparing traditional publishing lengths with e-publishing lengths.

http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=3412

(I think that is short enough even without me changing the name or tinyizing it.)

I believe I have stated that my Nano novel will be 90,000 or so which is the right length but I have two others that may not get over 60,000. If I e-publish them I won't have to worry about that shortness. Of course we shall see how long they are when I get done I could be wrong. But at the same time I wouldn't have to worry about coming up with more chapters therefore more adventures. One of the two almost seems to be 75 to 85 per cent done at 40,000 words. That is I am ready to turn the corner to the ending sequence. Two maybe three more chapters. At the most that would be thirty thousand more words but probably significantly less.

[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited March 05, 2011).]

Posted by JohnColgrove (Member # 9236) on :

I know when I finished The Lost Universe it was almost 17,000 words and it was ment to be at least 40,000. haha