Nearly every writing list I’ve been on, every writers’ forum I’ve visited, every writing magazine I’ve seen, and every fiction client I’ve worked with has asked this question. As though there’s some magic number that is the “correct” length. As though reaching (and not exceeding) that magic number will ensure acceptance.
I may well have answered it in the past, but my friend and colleague Richard Bylina has recently done so far more eloquently and clearly than I ever have. Here’s his take on it:
Novel lengths vary greatly, but in general…
…50,000 is considered the threshold for a novel; however, there are many fine examples of novels shorter than that criteria: “The Great Gatsby”, “The Old Man and The Sea”, “A Christmas Carol”. They are very short novels.
Each genre has a tendency to certain lengths, for instance, some romance lines have guidelines to keep the novels at 60,000 words or cozy mysteries between 60,000 – 70,000 words. Science fiction or fantasy has a tendency toward longer lengths.
I’ve not read a lot of Patterson or Koontz, but Koontz appears to be pushing well past 100,000 words most of the time. But it would be unfair use them as a guideline. Since font, formatting, and page size vary, counting the pages of a novel for comparison becomes a fruitless exercise; however, if you want to imitate Koontz, for example, you could type in some typical passages from several books, get an average page, and then multiple by page count for a rough estimate.
For first time novelists, the generally acceptable range to target is 70-90,000 words. Somewhere around 100,000 word crosses a business threshold of initial investment in a book for an author, and first time novelists will get an additional level of scrutiny when crossing that threshold. Remember, it is a business decision for the most part.
A good thing to do is know your genre or sub-genre. What are the typical lengths of those books? Check the publishers who put out the books in your selected genre. What are their requirements?
The best thing to do is write the best book possible without worrying about the guidelines, and write it tight. Have an opening chapter so compelling that the agent WANTS to read the rest of the novel. If your best chapter is chapter 8, well, maybe that’s where the book really starts.
It’s a tough business and agents are going to be no more ruthless than critiquers who salivate over a fresh opening chapter to review. And they do it not to be ruthless, but in anticipation of something that will really grab them and keep them reading for 40-50-200,000 words. If they are disappointed, sometimes you hear about what didn’t work in no uncertain terms, or in the case of an agent – REJECTION. You don’t want to give agents any reason to start reading your novel on the defensive. If you send in a 200,000 bodice-ripping story to Harlequin…expect to be rejected without the first brilliant sentence being read.
KNOW YOUR MARKET. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. WRITE A GREAT BOOK.
He’s right, people. Listen carefully. Write what you need to write, but know that there are certain realities in the publishing world that you’ll ignore at your peril. Listen to Rick, and you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!
