The other day Cherie Priest commented on her blog that she had hit 108k on her latest manuscript. That seemed high to me, having read her other books. When I asked her about it, she mentioned that her first novel in her latest series tipped in at 120k.
Right now I'm working on a novel, and I think it'll settle somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 words. This is the standard range for the YA (Young Adult) audience I'm aiming for.
That's in the neighbourhood 200 pages in trade paperback. One could cheat and make an "A format" pocketbook (4.3 x 7 inches) and set the thing in 14 point Goudy (like this copy of this book in my 9 year old daughter's fantasy box-set) and push it to just shy of 300 pages. Pricier to print but feels better in the hand. Up to you.
Your basic mystery novel, spy thriller etc. averages 80k, and fantasy – where you have to spend a lot of words explaining how objects and culture and politics and geographies work – can reach and exceed 120k.
For whatever reason, a lot of writers have 100,000 words in their heads as a "legitimate novel" length. I'm not sure where this comes from, except perhaps that it's an accidental inversion of the agent's tendency to NOT READ mss over 100k. So it's not a minimum, it's usually a maximum. (Obviously depending on genre, above).
There are of course exceptions to the rule. Twilight is the rare breakout YA novel that hit 120k. Collins' phenomenally successful Hunger Games squeaks in at 99k. But here's a little perspective, looking at some familiar classics, both adult and YA.
Rowling, Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone: 77k
Salinger, Catcher in the Rye: 73k
Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises: 67k
Golding, Lord of the Flies: 60k
Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five: 50k
Average Nancy Drew Novel: 47k
Bradbury, Farenheit 451: 47k
Vonnegut's manuscript is no less legitimate for weighing in at half your aspiring author's ideal length. The Science Fiction Writers of America define a "novel" as 40,000 words or above.
Even then, the market's understanding of "novel" is being radically re-invented by e-readers. Your cover image at 90 x 135 pixels, and your $2.99 price point, look as "valid' or as "legitimate" as anything put out by the Big 6 publishers. Your readers are going to buy your book if your cover is amazing, if your reviews are good; and they're going to love it if your writing is good. Word count is completely meaningless to your long term success. Is Farenheit 451 less of a novel than Twilight? Do I have to ask?
So tell your story with the best writing you wrench from your talent, and just don't worry about word count in your final manuscript. Worry about word count in your productivity.
How I'm Putting 50,000 - 60,000 Words Together
On Tuesdays, my (amazing) wife does everything with the kids. Gets them breakfast, makes their lunch, gets them to school, picks them up, makes them dinner, gives them a bath, gets them ready for bed. Everything. And I spend that one kid-free day per week writing 5,000 words. That's a pretty decent daily word-count. At this rate I'll have a solid first draft mid-March, And a few furious weeks of editing to make my mid-April deadline.
On Thursdays, I do everything with the kids so she can go to the studio and paint.
Thing is, I know I only get this one day per week to move the novel forward, so that time is sacrosanct, and I don't stop until I have 5,000 words on the screen. Takes me ten hours solid. I have a plan for exactly what has to get done each-writing day, and I don't waver. I don't cheat. I push. Because that's all I get. I don't care if I'm not inspired or if I don't feel like writing. I don't get to sleep until those 5,000 words get hammered into pixels, and that's that.
I have a plan for the first draft. I have a plan for the edit. I have a plan for revisions. I have a plan for proofing. I have a plan for the formatting, and eBooks, and promo and marketing. Even though I'm not even half way through the first draft, I've started shopping for a cover artist. Because the PLAN is the razor of truth and justice and fluffy kittens and that's just the way it is, dammit.
I'm so grateful for the ability (and the help!) to set this time aside and deliver on my commitment to my manuscript. But without goal, without limit, without PLAN, I could be at a-bunch-of-random-notes-and-great-ideas stage 6 months, 2 years, 5 years from now.
