I was wondering about the ideal length for first novels. According to the SFWA website, a novel must have at least 40,000 words, but it is very difficult to sell a science-fiction novel with a word-count in the 40,000 - 60,000 word range, unless it is a YA novel.
Also, according to the same website, it is preferable for a novel to have 60,000 – 90,000 words. That seems very little to me, in comparison to the many books I see lining the bookshelves at my local Borders and Barnes & Nobel. Most of those novels seem to be easily in the 300-400 page range, and many are quite a bit longer than that! My own novel draft (the first I will complete) will have approximately 100,000 words.
Anyway, here are some useful definitions:
Short story: 1000 – 7499 words
Novelette: 7,500 – 17,499 words
Novella: 17,500 – 39,999 words
Novel: 40,000 and up
Genre Fiction, particularly Sci-fi and fantasy average 100k-125k. Fantasy has examples as high as 300k, but I recently ran a word count average on over 300 fantasy novels and came to an average of 142,185 (that number is slightly bloated because of some “BIG” books on the list) If I remove the biggest 5 from the list, then fantasy sits at around a 126K average.
Ken: I tend to trust your research/observations on this question, because your comment is in line with what I have observed. But then, why do you think there’s such a discrepency between this, and the advice given on the SFWA website?
The SFWA website (and others) are giving the wordcount definitions for different categories of fiction… not the actual wordcounts of those types of work.
Even though, anything above 50K is by definition “a novel”, you’d be hard pressed to find anything (recent) at that level.
100-110k *should* be the target number for a debut novelist.
First, just want to say hello. (I haven’t been wandering the internets as much lately.)
From what I keep seeing, you sci-fi writers are held to higher word count expectations than other genres.
I’m guessing that many of the novels I read tend to be less than 100k, or not much more than 100k. (these aren’t sci-fi novels, though) But even the shorter ones I read are probably close to 90k min. I suppose it all depends on genre.
Make of this what you will: Heather Osborn, editor at Tor (shivers yet?), told me that a good number was 70,000 – 75,000 words. And then she said, “Anything under 150,000, really.”
The good news about Tor (and Wizards of the Coast) is that neither require agents. All you have to do is send in the first 3 chapters (or first 50 pages) and a 2-3 page synopsis. If they’re interested, they’ll snatch you up. Of course, I’d recommend doing your homework first, and then deciding which editor you should send your manuscript to.
Contemporary novels don’t require much set-up, explanation or world-building, because they take place in our own world and usually in current (or near current) times. With Sci-fi and Fantasy, there are all sorts of extra “stuff” that has to weaved into the story, resulting in a naturally longer work.
^
Exactly!
Ken: I’m glad to hear about the 100-110K recommendation, because that’s where I’m headed (I hope). Now, that is using the word-count on a word-processing program, I hope? ‘Cause that’s what I use.
Adrienne: Hello
and welcome back. I think you’re right. Judging by what I see on the shelves, sci-fi novels are thick, and fantasy novels thicker still.
Alex: Wecome to the discussion. Sounds like you’ve had experience in this somewhat puzzling area (at least, puzzling to me). Can you tell us if you’ve had positive or negative experiences with Tor?