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Author Topic: Length of story??
KStar
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Hello!

I'm well in to a story that I feel is the very best work I have ever written. I have been writing like never before, it just sort of flows out of me without having to stress over it. It's very exciting for me to write and I am ecstatic. And, it's YA fantasy which is something I have never attempted before.

My question is: Is there a specific length that a YA novel should be? I'm over 20,000 words in and I plan to have the entire thing complete in 2-3 more weeks so I can begin the grueling process of editing it. I am planning on 100-120,000 words and pretty much have the whole thing mapped out. It occurred to me that I might be making it too long for YA. Does anyone have an opinion on this?

I obviously have a hard time making anything short and to the point

Thanks!
Kara


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Rommel Fenrir Wolf II
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make it as long as you see fit. and if nessorary brake it into 2 or more books.
i am curently working on 7 books that are around 200000 words each.
unforchent for the world

Rommel Fenrir Wolf II


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DebbieKW
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Off the top of my head, I believe that YA books are usually around 45,000 words to 75,000 words long. They're starting to get longer due to the Harry Potter books doing so well, but having your debut YA novel at 100,000 to 120,000 is probably pushing it.
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Zero
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I have found, though others experiences have been different, that I can write a 120,000 story and edit out 20,000 words, usually. Write your story and then set it aside for a while, when you go back and read it bear in mind places where you can cut the fat. And I think 100,000 would be okay but beyond that will be hard to publish, or so I hear. 75,000 sounded about right to me, for the genre.

[This message has been edited by Zero (edited October 19, 2007).]


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JeanneT
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Yeah, I'd write it as long as you need then edit like a demon. If you can get it below 75k, all to the better because the traditional length for a YA is 40-60k although I think the market is opening up for longer ones.

You would be AMAZED at how much you can take out by just going through and editing out the fluff and filler words that don't add anything anyway. I know you think they're not there. Trust me--they are.


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Robert Nowall
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I think it's best to finish it first, then worry about length and cutting and such. Then you can consider marketing it...
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lehollis
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I agree with the finish it first and worry about length later, but it is good to be aware of the general length. Right now, it seems that less than 80,000 seems to be good. You might get away with a little more, since it is expanding.
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KStar
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Thanks so much for all your info! Very appreciated. I will make definite efforts to keep my modifiers in check.

I'm at about 30,000 now. I've been spending every spare second on it. I'm so pleased with my story and have never been so proud of anything I've written before.

Sorry to toot my own horn!!! I'm fully aware that it might be rubbish. I just can't believe I discovered characters and a story that I actually care about. I'm in writing bliss


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Antinomy
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When you're on a roll like that it's best to keep the foot down on the accelerator.

You might be interested in a completely opposite problem:

A college class was told they had to write a short story in as few words as possible.

The instructions were:

The short story had to contain the following three things:
1- Religion
2- Sexuality
3- Mystery
Below is the only A+ short story in the entire class:

"Good God, I'm pregnant. I wonder who did it?"

"Good God, I'm pregnant; I wonder who did it."


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