Wordy

Well sheesh. Apparently it's August already -- which means it's time to start a new series!

This month, I'll be answering questions that have been put to me by you, the fans and friends. They're all anonymous, so don't worry about me calling you out for being a little crazy (we're all mad here, as they say).

How many... 

Today's question: 

How many words (or pages) makes a novel? 

It's a fair question, that. A very fair question.

1. First, if you're looking at pages only, you'll want to change your thinking. 

See, publishers aren't going to look at the number of pages you've written, but the number of words. Why? Because a book of dialogue would be short on words but high on pages, and a book of exposition would be high on words but short on pages -- and words is the simpler way to count.

2. Second, you'll want to take stock of how much dialogue and exposition you have

By my measures, fifty-fifty is about appropriate. Publishers will want to see that you have a good grasp of both types of writing, so this will be a good way to show them.

3. Third, you're ready to figure out how long your story needs to be

And honestly, it depends.

If you're going for a novella, anywhere between fifty-thousand to one-hundred-thousand words would be appropriate, in my opinion. It's short, but long enough to be perfect bound and therefore long enough to be considered a book.

If you're trying for a novel, however, you'll want to get closer to 150,000 words. Again, this is just my opinion.

My books are long. Abnormally long. Some of you will likely have noticed that.


Essentially, it boils down to this:

How much story do you have, and how many words can you write?

In the end, that will determine if you have enough to be a book. If you don't, I hope you'll keep writing until you get there!

[love]

{Rani Divine}