Beefing Up a Novel

I'm currently writting my first novel. It's a YA fantasy, and I really like it. However, I have a problem. Judging by current chapter length and how many chapters I have in my outline, its only going to be about 20k in length.

How do I make it longer without dragging it?


-Ally

Add a(nother) subplot. Chances are you've already got the material to do so, and you can just make it more prominent, especially if it's based on interactions between characters. Just make sure it's also sufficiently tied up by the end.

I recently had this exact experience. An agency really liked my novel but at 54,000 words it was too short.

So I rewrote it completely, and also significantly enhanced the "B-plot", expanding it into a much larger story line.

The end result was 68,000 words, which the agency is now reading & evaluating.

If you create or enhance a B-plot line you'll find you won't be padding, but actually expanding legitimately.

By the way, 65,000 is about the bare minimum for an adult novel, and although I don't know for certain about juvenile fiction, I think that 20k is too thin. Maybe 35k?

Go deeper into the theme of your story. If your main story is about loyalty, look at ways to use your supporting cast to show different facets of loyalty. If your main story is about a struggling marriage, be sure you have used your supporting cast to fully explore the concept of marriage.

It gives unity and depth to your work and it can help fill out a story without making it feel padded or meandering.

Add more story.

After you finish the first draft (don't worry about word count until then--that's when you'll be able to fix the problem) look for a place where someone cooperates with the protagonist when they just as easily could have refused to cooperate, forcing the protagonist to work harder for something they need.

These are wonderful ideas, HConn. They've really got me thinking about my own novel-in-progress.

HConn has a good point. Go back and look for cliches or predictable plot developments, expand or change them.

Other ideas involve including a few more subplots that strengthen your themes, more characters (major, minor) and more scenes. If you find your scenes short and fast-paced, perhaps lengthen them or add a few more "introspective" or "slower" scenes to develop the characters. Pump up some of your narratives. Use the five senses. If you find yourself writing "He enjoyed the delicious food," try to expand it into a few short sentences of what the food was and how he was enjoying it. Not only does that add to your word count, it makes your scenes more vivid and evocative.


Fleshing out the dialogue would also beef up your novel and create more realistic characters.

But don't worry about that until after you've finished the first draft. Just tell the story as best you can, without stretching out or compressing, and fix the length in rewrites if you really do need it.

Not that I'm an expert or anything.

Why not start by writing a good novella, and go for novel length next time?

Thanks, this is really helpful.:hug
Now I just need to find a sub-plot. (after I finish it of course:grin )

Now I just need to find a sub-plot. (after I finish it of course )

Click to expand...

I think you'll find that the subplot is already there but just needing to be fleshed out more.

Now I just need to find a sub-plot.

Click to expand...

These are usually lying dormant within your very manuscript. Here's what happened to me...

In my 2nd novel (a private detective novel in a series I'm writing), I had a brief, 1-chapter encounter with a serial killer, "The Slicer". I had written this principally to show the police in action, and to plant the seed for a subsequent novel in the series.

I simply read thru this chapter, and thought about it. I asked myself "What happens if the killer strikes again? How does the detective react?"

And then came the critical thoughts: "How might my private detective protagonist get involved? How might he link up with the cops in a logical way?"

And it was while pondering this, I evolved a small sub-plot into a strong B-plot series of chapters that fell quickly into place.

In other words, just giving some careful thought to this original single chapter resulted in the addition of 15,000 new words.

So it's all there, festering in your fevered brain! ha ha