I think my WIP just grew 100k words... :-/

I would say that's a tad bit long, especially for your first novel. Maybe consider splitting it into two books?

800 pages is all right, a little long, but nothing a good edit can't fix. Trust me, you have nothing to worry about, my current novel has just breeched 1,000 pages, and I probably still have between 100-200 pages left to go. It doesn't matter, at the moment, because I'm planning to cut about 400 pages from it, so do what I do and just keep writing. Don't worry about the length. You can deal with that later.

ct bliss said:

I had my basic plot, and have been merrily typing away at a relatively decent pace. I'm at my first mini-climax, and had a fair idea of where I wanted to go. As of this morning, I was sitting at about 28k words, and figured that I'd end up somewhere between 100-150k by the time I was done telling my story. (I'm basing this off how much 'story' most of the paperbacks I've read have.)

So there I was, at work, standing outside smoking a cigarette, listening to some music -- you know, getting in my 'zone' -- when the strangest plot twist hit me with a tiny, innocent question. What if I did THIS...

At that instant, a thousand new ideas bloomed in my wee little head, which almost burst into flames. (Think about what happens when you plug too many Christmas lights into the same outlet. It was scary!) I'm excited, REALLY excited that now, I have an underlying story that is built under a smokescreen of what was supposed to be my main plot.

With this new twist, it's going to probably take me to twice my original wordcount guestimate to fully develop everything, making my first novel a freaking doorstopper!

My question to you: Is upwards of 200k words too long for a first novel in the SF genre? At the 'average' 250 words-per-page, that would put me at 800 pages!

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Simple answer? Yes.

SciFi books do get a lot of leeway with wordcount, as do historicals, but 200k is pushing it to absolute breaking point. But who knows? If your work is the most absolutely fabulous thing ever and you catch an agent on a good day, you could still find representation and perhaps get it published.

Still, I would really try your hardest to shave your wordcount down to a more standard level. 200k is a lot of words, and for a debut novelist, I imagine it would be very prohibitive when seeking publication. 150k would seem more reasonable, and even that is still quite a hefty wordcount.

At the end of the day, 200k would be costly production-wise. As a debut author, publishers are taking a gamble on you anyway. For someone like JK Rowling, a proven success, her 150k+ novels and multi-million print-runs are no big deal. But for a debut author with no track record, it means they stand to loose even more than they would with your standard 100k-word novel if your book fails to be a success. I imagine that could be off-putting to prospective agents/publishers. But you never know! If you can convince someone against all reason and logic that you have something special on your hands, you could still be picked up.

I hate to give definitive answers, because relatively few things are ever 100% certain and I would hate to dampen your spirits when you could well be the next Big Thing, but this is just my opinion on the matter. Don't throw away this idea for a twist, though - I find those little moments of inspiration can often produce the best ideas. I would just try and evaluate things and see if you can't chop the development down a bit. Remember the reader doesn't need to know everything there is to know. Anyway, if you've only done 28k, nothing is set in stone. It might not even end up as 200k once it's been written. Good luck with this!

How exciting about the new plot twist - I love it when that happens!

I'm not an expert on SF but I do know you should write your book to fit in with the usual word count of your genre.

Having said that, write the book as it comes, and edit it down if needed. You'll be amazed at how much you can trim on a good edit. This can make for tighter writing too, which is good (within reason).

Don't let that good plot twist go to waste!

It's still very early to tell how many k your work will turn out to be. I was at around 140k before I realized my 150k approximation just wasn't going to cut it. It's my 2nd novel, but the first I plan to query. It will be 180k, which is a little long, even for a first novel in the fantasy genre, but writing a novel well is far more important than adhering to a word count. That's my opinion at least.

ct bliss said:

My question to you: Is upwards of 200k words too long for a first novel in the SF genre? At the 'average' 250 words-per-page, that would put me at 800 pages!

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Here's a general rule of thumb on word count for general fiction:

Epic: A work of 200,000 words or more.
Novel: A work of 60,000 words or more.
Novella: A work of at least 17,500 words but under 60,000 words.
Novelette: A work of at least 7,500 words but under 17,500 words.
Short story: A work of at least 2,000 words but under 7,500 words.
Flash fiction: A work of less than 2,000 words.

There will always be exceptions.

Better to have too many words and need to edit it down, than not enough and need to pad it out.

If you have 200k words and an editor asks you to knock it down to 100k, it means you have the incredible pleasure/luxury of keeping the best 50% of the book, which can only make it a much stronger piece of work.

Garpy said:

Better to have too many words and need to edit it down, than not enough and need to pad it out.

If you have 200k words and an editor asks you to knock it down to 100k, it means you have the incredible pleasure/luxury of keeping the best 50% of the book, which can only make it a much stronger piece of work.

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On the other hand, not many editors will ask you to pad a 100K novel to 200K. Add a subplot or two, perhaps, but not making it too long. The problem is, if the book is 200K, it may not even get to the editor.

Man, you people with your zillion k word counts! I'm thinking I'll be lucky if I clear 80,000!

Word

Yes, it's almost certainly too long for a first novel.

Garpy said:

Better to have too many words and need to edit it down, than not enough and need to pad it out.

If you have 200k words and an editor asks you to knock it down to 100k, it means you have the incredible pleasure/luxury of keeping the best 50% of the book, which can only make it a much stronger piece of work.

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Pleasure? Luxury? Try agony, and probably defeat.

BlueBadger said:

Man, you people with your zillion k word counts! I'm thinking I'll be lucky if I clear 80,000!

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Ha. Yeah, I'm right there with you. 200K words boggles the mind!

That's probably why I don't write SF, though.

Let the story come out as it wants to, then worry about the editing and paring down. Sometimes there's just a lot that needs to be figured out on paper, but won't make it to subsequent drafts.

Nicole

Azraelsbane said:

...but writing a novel well is far more important than adhering to a word count. That's my opinion at least.

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Writing it, sure. But publishing it is a business, and high word count translates to more cost.

At this point, just write it. Worry about the word count when you come back around for revisions.

My initial draft was 261,000 words.

Right now, at what I would estimate is probably 40% of the way through my first revision, I've pared that to 234K. By the time I hit the end and come back for another pass, I'm hoping to have it closer to 195,000.

I wish all you people with extra words could give me some. My books are so anemic.

Shady Lane said:

I wish all you people with extra words could give me some. My books are so anemic.

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You're welcome to some of mine. Adverbs are on special this week...

Shady Lane said:

I wish all you people with extra words could give me some. My books are so anemic.

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I have an abundance of "that" over here. You're welcome to have some, if you'd like.

I was pushing 172K and really sweating whether or not it was viable for publishers -- but that was the first draft -- I'm pretty sure I can pare it down to a manageable size Better to have more words than less, in my opinion anyway.

Jamesaritchie said:

Pleasure? Luxury? Try agony, and probably defeat.

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Depends if you like editing or not. I love it....it's a buzz knowing you've upped the quality of a passage by chopping out the deadwood.

Of course I've met a few authors in my time who arrogantly proclaim they write 'final quality' text first time round. Which explains why their stuff reads like indulgent cr@p.

Like I say...far better to overshoot and cut than undershoot and pad.

maestrowork said:

On the other hand, not many editors will ask you to pad a 100K novel to 200K. Add a subplot or two, perhaps, but not making it too long. The problem is, if the book is 200K, it may not even get to the editor.

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Exactly.

The thing is, unless every bit of that 200k word count is enthralling and necessary to the plot, then youre about 100k too high for the first time.

Thats not to say that if your book is absolutely brilliant that a publisher would turn you away, they most likely will ask you to cut it down though. Thats if its brilliant.

Id shoot for between 100k and 125k...125 is still high, but if it serves the story and flows well, then why not.

I'm always envious of (and puzzled by) folks who have projections for how many k's they want their books to be. When I started posting on this site I was astonished to see siggys like "WIP - 20 000/102 000". I didn't understand how they arrived at the 102 000 number. I suppose it's just an educated guess on their part. I haven't a hope in hell of estimating my word count or my page number. >.<

-An