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@acancello https://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/word-count-for-novels-and-childrens-books-the-definitive-post
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comIt depends mainly on genre. The standard range for adult fiction is 50,000–100,000, per Writer’s Digest, with the best range being 80,000–90,000 words. (For comparison, this would be a book that’s approximately 300 pages once published.) If you’re writing YA, 60,000 words might be fine—the range for that age bracket is 50,000–80,000. If you’re writing adult historical fiction, as I am, you’ll want to aim for 80,000–100,000. Adult speculative fiction (fantasy, sci-fi, and dystopian) is usually longer: 90,000–120,000, sometimes even more. Anything shorter than 50,000 words is usually considered a novella, and even 60,000 is cutting it really close for adult fiction. Middle-grade is shorter: 20,000–55,000.
As @hybridlore said, focus on having a complete plot and then edit either longer or shorter from there. It can also be good to keep some very practical issues in mind—anything longer than 100,000 words is going to be very expensive to self-publish and not likely to catch the eye of a traditional publisher, and anything shorter than 50,000 will “feel short” to readers if it isn’t marketed as a shorter book or novella. I’ll add the Writer’s Digest article link (very detailed and helpful) in a separate comment below this post so it doesn’t get eaten by KP.
Hope that helps! Congratulations on the progress!
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comFreedom is right about page and word counts. I would say, however, don’t worry about rushing. There’s no such thing as writing too fast. Studies show that the faster you write and the more you do of it, the better your writing will be, both in the moment and later as you develop your skill. You can always edit it later, but getting it on the page is top priority. (Listen to me talk—I really need to take my own advice.) If, on the other hand, you feel that the story itself is moving too fast, do what Freedom said and slow down to plan a bit more and flesh out some subplots and character arcs if needed. Whatever you do, enjoy being so motivated!
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comThanks for the advice guys! I got a critique (Harsh but very informative lol) and I might not be ready to publish yet… lol.
Oof, that can be tough, but it sounds like it was good for you and you’re taking it well. Keep up the good work!
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comYou’re welcome! I’m glad my comments were helpful to you. I know some people who spend a lot of time hunting for “dirt” on Christian classics or other classic works, and I don’t want to be one of those people, but Hindu philosophy and self-improvement posing as Christianity is kind of a big deal to me. 🙂 It’s so true that things become terribly imbalanced if we focus too much on one aspect of the gospel to the exclusion of others—especially when they’re all so interrelated. I love the idea of your character realizing she was never alone, even when she felt that way. Life can be so like that sometimes! Sounds like you have some good people in mind to help check your work along the way.
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comPilgrim’s Progress is probably my favorite and the most classic of all Christian allegories, although it contains a few teachings I don’t agree with. @elishavet-pidyon had some really good points. I don’t read a lot of allegories, but my main requirement is that whatever allegorical stuff is in there accurately reflects biblical truth. An interesting one I read a while ago was The Paris Betrayal by James R. Hannibal. It’s a full-fledged thriller that’s also a loose allegory of the book of Job, though a lot of people said they didn’t realize that until they read the author’s note. But the thing that seemed off to me was that the agency director who was supposed to represent God never showed any concern or care for the agent who represented Job. It was more like, “Just do your job and who cares if you almost die, I’m the director so don’t complain.” And sure, there are elements of that in God’s message to Job, but in a different spirit, I think. I also remember seeing an allegory (one I didn’t read) where the Messiah/Savior figure was female. That just seemed wrong to me. So no, I don’t think the allegory has to be obvious, but whatever is being allegorized needs to be biblically sound. Speaking of which—I read and enjoyed Hinds’ Feet on High Places when I was younger too, but I’ve done some more reading since then and just want to point out a caution: The author believed some pretty New-Agey things, including reincarnation and other forms of Hindu philosophy. The Good Shepherd is essentially a good teacher, not a sacrificing Redeemer who never leaves his people alone. So if you read that one, be aware of that and crosscheck it carefully with Scripture. There’s a review on Goodreads that sums it up pretty well: goodreads.com/review/show/640093986
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comCongratulations on finishing your short story! That’s exciting! It sounds like you’re getting the copyright thing figured out, but just let me say that legally your work is protected by copyright as soon as you create it. There’s no such thing as not having a copyright. The difference is that registering your copyright with the US Copyright Office gives you greater power to defend your copyright in a court of law and sue for infringement (or, alternatively, prove your ownership if someone were to sue you for infringement). But as long as you created the work, you already have the copyright. It’s just harder to prove.
Now, as for publishing—it depends on what you’re wanting to do. If you just want to get it out there and don’t really care if you get money from it or if many people have access to it, publishing it on a website is fine. If you want to make it widely available and earn money for it, you can publish short stories through Amazon/Kindle the same as full-length books. Amazon also has a serialized option for publishing stories in parts. I haven’t personally tried that program, but I have published shorter works through Kindle and can answer questions if you have them. I do recommend having at least one other person edit your work for you, since it can be really hard to see the errors in your own work. Hope that helps. 🙂
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comOh, this sounds like a good one for a bittersweet resolution. Thanks for sharing!
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comOh, sorry. By the time I finished reading all the posts, I must have forgotten who started the thread. 🙂
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comI’m a little late to the party, but I do want to mention something that’s helped me: A lack of action doesn’t make a scene boring; a lack of tension does. You can have a scene without any action at all that still moves the story forward and feels interesting to read as long as there is tension of some kind that relates to the overall story, whether it’s tension in a conversation where someone wants information and the other person wants to withhold it or tension in exposition where the new information increases the stakes for the characters. Every strong scene has a component of tension through objective and conflict.
I do strongly recommend dropping exposition in naturally a bit at a time, but if it’s most natural for a character to directly find something out or tell it to another character, do what is most natural to the story.
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comTagging a few more: @princesachronicles22 @sarafini @euodia.vision @felicity @rmarcher
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comI am totally going to read your book, it sounds amazing! Just one question, what reading level is it? Amanda Dykes… She sounds familiar but I don’t think I have read anything by her yet 🙂
I recommend it for ages 13 and up because it’s set in wartime and there’s some violence, but nothing graphic. I know some families have used it as a read-aloud if their children are comfortable with that kind of material. Does that answer the question?
I just talked about Amanda Dykes over on another forum, so maybe that’s where you heard it. 🙂
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.comThanks, @freedomwriter76! Here’s hoping the second book lives up to the first one. 🙂
Jayna Baas
Christian Author/Editor
www.booksbyjayna.com