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Hi, all. I have a question: How do you all write books that are so long?! It seems all my books turn out to be novella length. I know a lot of people like a short book, but I really want to write a novel length book. Is there something I’m doing wrong that prevents me from doing this?
@seekjustice @jane-maree @skredder @daeus @alia @ariel-ashira @rochellaine @ingrid @kaya-young @sarah-anson @anyone elseI'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com@jenwriter17 heh… I’ve got the opposite problem. 😛
*scratches head* I would say probably the number one thing that makes my novels so ridiculously long is the crazy amount of time I spend really delving into the layers of chemistry in live scenes. I try to do all live scenes if I possibly can (no summaries, no overviews, no generalizations) and I try to make them as alive, complex, and detailed as possible. Sometimes this is a setback and I really need to learn when to stop with the details, 😛 but it’s sure good for adding bulk to your word-count. 😛
@jenwriter17 Yeah, what Kate said is huge. If you have part 2 of my Show Don’t Tell Course, I have a whole lesson on live scenes there, but basically a live scene is the literary version of a camera taking in everything that’s happening in a scene. No time is skipped. An overview is like when someone tells you what happened at their birthday party. They’ll give a good impression of what happened, but they’ll brush over certain parts and generalize what happened.
Another that’s really increased my word count is upping my expected word count per chapter. I used to aim for 2,000 words per chapter, letting myself write longer or shorter ones when I felt I needed to. Now, I’ve consciously decided to push myself to write 5,000 word chapters on average. In order to make sure these chapters aren’t filled with fluff, I’ve had to expand my subplots and explore my characters more deeply. It’s actually been really good for me.
When I outlined my novel too, I did it with the expectation that it would be about 250,000 words. I didn’t know how I would meet that word count yet, but I had set the expectation so I started to work toward meeting. it.
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@kate-flournoy @daeus Thank you both! I’ve been meaning to get part 2 of the course…. 🙂
I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com@jenwriter17, sadly I don’t know. I try to write a short story and it becomes a series…
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Kapeefer til we're old and grey@alia haha, well I’m glad you don’t have the same trouble 🙂
I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com@jenwriter17 I guess I just describe every scene in detailed, sensory language, and I have been working on adding more subplots. I do struggle with creating complicated plots!
"In a mask, was he?"
@jenwriter17 I think Daeus and Kate got it. Basically, make things more complex. A longer story, more in depth themes, more characters, conflicts, obstacles to overcome, and more live scenes. That being said, you can’t just tack that stuff on to a story that is short at its core. Otherwise the story will drag. Layer things on, and see how in depth and complex you can make them, while still remembering to keep your story moving.
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Also, Daeus has 22 turtles in his signature.@Jenwriter17 pretty much just throwing in all the subplots and more try-fail sequences will fill out your plot a lot more.
Writing Heroes ♦ Writing Hope // janemareeauthor.com.au
@jane-maree @sam-kowal @ariel-ashira Thank you all so much! I’m beginning to figure this out now 🙂
I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.comSorry its taken me so long to get back to you! Basically I think everyone else here is right, complexity is pretty much what makes long novels long.
Having said that, my novels tend to be on the shorter side. I love writing novellas and flash fiction and the longest novel I’ve ever written was only 100,000 words (not short, but not long either). So its completely okay to write short novels. Some people (myself included) enjoy sitting down with a book and finishing it two hours later. In fact, if I’m going to pick up a big book I have to be 95% certain I’m going to like it. And short novels definitely can pack an emotional punch, short or not.
So what I’m saying is that if you love little books, don’t feel pressured to write long ones! Do what you want and also whats best for the story. Some are made to be long and some aren’t. 🙂
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@seekjustice Thanks so much for your advice, it makes sense. I’ll try to focus more on what my story needs instead of what I want 😀
I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com@jenwriter17 I know this a late response, but I have had this same “issue” (if you can call it that). 🙂 It has bothered me that I can’t get past a certain number of words for a story. What I’ve come to realize is that I just need to write what is necessary. If my story is finished in 30,000 words, so be it! And the next round of editing is often the time to add things in. Hope this helps!
A dreamer who believes in the impossible...and dragons. (INFJ-T)
@ingridrd Yes, it does help! I have to not worry so much about my word count and just do what fits my story 🙂
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