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View Full Version : Ack! Demonic Lengthliness!

JoelLordOfSquirrels
10-01-2005, 01:33 AM
Well, I just joined, but I might as well start begging for sage advice immediately; I am in the process of writing my second draft of a fantasy novel... actually, re-writting, because aside from BASIC plot (points A and F ) everything else is differant (points *Insert every letter except A and F*)

Now, Draft One of my novel was 120 000 words, and the writing style for it was... well, it was essentially the bare bones; no description at all, just 'he did, she did, he said, it moved' etc. Furthermore, there were plot holes as big as Wyoming. Anyway, I have so far comprared rough storyline positions between the two, and this is how many words there have been in each.

Draft1: 47 000
Draft2: 64 000

Now, this may not seem to large, but keep in mind that for Draft one, I cut out a few subplots that weren't needed. What I need to know is, is there a set limit where the chances of getting a book published are REALLY slim? I've heard 100 000 is the golden number, and I'll get nowhere close to that short in a billion years...
Aconite
10-01-2005, 01:41 AM
Joel, what's your genre? It can make a difference.
JoelLordOfSquirrels
10-01-2005, 01:44 AM
Um... Fantasy. Swords and sorcery kinda thing.
Aconite
10-01-2005, 01:51 AM
Okay. You've got a little more leeway than, say, mystery. Somebody will be along in a short while to give you some hard (well, squishy, but rule-of-thumbish) numbers. In the meantime, I'll ask just to be sure: are you using your WP's word count function and counting actual words (which you don't want to do), or averaging words per line X lines per page X number of pages for what publishers call word count?
JoelLordOfSquirrels
10-01-2005, 01:55 AM
The former... >< I skip lines whenever I change scenery, three total each time...
Aconite
10-01-2005, 02:04 AM
The former... >< I skip lines whenever I change scenery, three total each time...
So you're counting actual words? You don't want to do that. "Word count" for publishers is actually an estimate of how much paper it's going to take to print your book; they don't care about how many words there are. A quick and dirty estimate is this: Use 12-point Courier or Courier New, double-spaced, with one-inch margins all around. Estimate 250 words per page, and multiply that by the number of pages.

There are several threads on this that include more information. One of them is here: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=848.
JoelLordOfSquirrels
10-01-2005, 02:09 AM
I hate the small print... >< *Sighs* Well, I'm just gonna write my novel until I finish, then worry about length. If I start worrying while still writing it, especially mid-way, it won't do the piece justice in the end.
Aconite
10-01-2005, 02:12 AM
A good way of looking at it. A story takes as long as it takes.
JoelLordOfSquirrels
10-01-2005, 02:14 AM
Well, I do thank you for all your help. ^^ If you ever need anything, just PM me.
Aconite
10-01-2005, 02:23 AM
Well, I do thank you for all your help. ^^ If you ever need anything, just PM me.
Thank you! That's very kind. Ditto.
azbikergirl
10-01-2005, 04:09 AM
My fantasy novel was well over 180,000 words when I finished the third draft. It took me two rounds of revisions to get down to 121,000, partly by cutting characters and/or subplots, partly by eliminating delay (where there's no real conflict/setback, just... delay), and partly by examining every sentence, every word, to streamline. You wouldn't know it by the typical (short) length of my posts here, but I tend toward wordiness. :)
victoriastrauss
10-01-2005, 06:22 AM
Fantasy is more tolerant than some other genres of greater lengths for new authors, but if it's over 150,000 words, you may have trouble. On the other hand, I'm acquainted with three fantasy authors whose (fairly recent) debut novels were over 200,000 words--but these were really extraordinary novels. So if you write an exceptional work you may have a chance even at an excessive length...but not that many of us write exceptional works, so in general, less is better.

But I think you're right not to worry about this until the book is done.

- Victoria
JoelLordOfSquirrels
10-01-2005, 07:13 AM
Thank you all for your input, and I doubt that my novel will be 200 000 words... in fact, 120 000 is my approximate estimate, but anyway. Ego alone would probably require me to make some insulted comment about exeptional works being my specialty or something like that, but all I have to do is look at my first written novel and said ego will pop like a balloon. XD