Is my Mystery too short?

[Sassy3421]

okay, so I've been working at editing and perfecting my first mystery. It seems that every time I pull it up, the word count shrinks - help! It started off around 89k and now is just shy of 77k. I'm only at about pg 22 of 442, so it could increase, but it could also go down? (nail biting)

what's the ideal length for a mystery whodunit? approx 60-80k? I think I remember reading that somewhere.

Please tell me that's correct and I'm right on track.

[MarkEsq]

Please tell me that's correct and I'm right on track.

I think you are, actually. I would say the lowest you'd want to be is 65k, but I'm no authority. :)

[nitaworm]

The word count you have is fine.

[Sassy3421]

phew! thanks guys. I just needed reassurance :)

[Jamesaritchie]

It depends on the particular publisher. The only possible way to know whether teh word count is good is to check publisher's guidelines.

[Ruv Draba]

Is it taut, absorbing and surprising, Sassy? If it is, then the word-count may be just right. If it's not, then word-count may not be the main problem.

[Sassy3421]

oh Ruv, there's nothing lacking in the story ;)

[Steam&Ink]

It started off around 89k and now is just shy of 77k.

Wow, you're good at word-chopping! :e2chain:

I agree that your word count sounds about right. I think I read 70k-90k for mysteries somewhere - and as Ruv said, if it's taut and edgy at 77k, nothing is gained by throwing in some extra words to pad it out.

I think you should keep editing and review once you've finished. Don't let your fear of a shrinking word count get in the way of judicious editing!

Good luck :)

[Ruv Draba]

oh Ruv, there's nothing lacking in the story ;)Well heck, even novellas can sell when there's nothing lacking in the story -- look at the length Chandler and Hammett used to write. :)

[Sassy3421]

Wow, you're good at word-chopping! :e2chain:

I agree that your word count sounds about right. I think I read 70k-90k for mysteries somewhere - and as Ruv said, if it's taut and edgy at 77k, nothing is gained by throwing in some extra words to pad it out.

I think you should keep editing and review once you've finished. Don't let your fear of a shrinking word count get in the way of judicious editing!

Good luck :)

Thanks Steampunkette :) and great advice about shrinking word count. it can become an obsession that takes the focus over the quality sometimes

[RJK]

You trimmed 12,000 words from the first 100 pages or so Assuming you're on a re paginated page 22. That's 50% of what you wrote. If you keep that pace you won't even have a novella.

Either leave the story you wrote, or think seriously about rewriting the story. Some mysteries can happily end in the 60K word range, but for most books, you should be in the 80K range.

[Sassy3421]

okay maybe I should specify this - this round of edits is simply a finetuning. it's not that it went from 89k to 76k in 22 pgs lol yeah, then I would walk away

[Sassy3421]

Well, I figured since I started this thread, I should end it by saying edits are complete. My final word count is 75,880 :)

[MarkEsq]

Well, I figured since I started this thread, I should end it by saying edits are complete. My final word count is 75,880 :)


Congrats! You are just fine, I think, so worry about it no more.

[Qbynewbie]

Did you ever look at the word count in Robert Parker's Spenser novels? I think most of them come in under 50,000 words.

For the fun of it, I just looked at my copy of Painted Ladies, which came out last week. It has 291 pages, which include 67 chapters. Each chapter starts with a half page and most end with a partial page, too. That's at least 50 pages of blank space out of the 291 in the book, leaving roughly 241 full pages of text.

Counting the words on a couple of pages, he averages about 175 words per full page. 241 pages at 175 words per page is only about 42K words.

I'm not holding Parker up as any kind of model for how long a mystery should be but he did seem to make it work for him. :)

[Sassy3421]

thanks qbynewbie
I didn't even think 40k counted for novel length. I'm feeling good about my length now. :)

[Qbynewbie]

Well, Parker was kind of a special case, so I'm not sure how much I'd read into it. But he was a very successful special case, so I think it counts for something. I'm just not sure exactly what, except perhaps that good stories can break a lot of rules.

[Clair Dickson]

75k is fine from what I've read. The range, as I understand it, is 70-80k preferred. Less than 60k is really pushing the short end for today's books.

Regarding Robert Parker, he started writing years ago, when books were more likely to be shorter. Over time, the accepted length of books-- and movies!-- has increased. Check out the old pulps and other such mysteries and they're in the 50k range more often than not. But that wouldn't fly EXCEPT for a big name author who's already proven themselves. (Or a very rare exception, just like some books today are massive, but most really need to be in the middle range.)

Write on!

[Sassy3421]

isn't it ironic how mankind has invented all sorts of things to "save" time and yet when it comes to our entertainment they want to make it more time consuming...
your comment just made me think of that irony Clair.
and I'm within the genre parameters :)

[tko]

I'm not sure how special Parker was. Old mysteries tended to be relatively short. Look at John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee, Dorothy Sayers, really any mystery from 20 years ago. In general, I think books are getting longer, more epic like. The average thriller I now read is probably over 400 pages, the latest Jack Reacher, a simple adventure set in one city, is 540 pages in paperback.

I'm not saying that books have to be long. I think there is still a strong market for a well written, to the point mystery.