I have almost finished the first ruff draft book 1 of a two part novel. This is a very timely topic considering the state of race relations today. I wrote something for fun that is a little over 27, 000. I am about to finish the first draft of my first serious project. Mar 18, 2011 many small presses publish novellas and short stories. Shorter novels such as fahrenheit 451, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, the great gatsby, and slaughterhousefive are between 40. August 28, 2010 word count is the devil you have to love, or at the very least, respect. The teachers word book of 30,000 words by edward lee thorndike. And just a slight knowledge of history will cut the head off this silly myth. Science fiction and fantasy books should be 90,000 to 125,000 words. Aug 07, 2015 the n word is a very well written, thoughtprovoking book about racism, love, and redemption. Ian woon to the traveling shovel of death, from trebuchets to that painting of tom selleck in the nanowrimo office.
The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257,000 words. Published on march 2, 2014 march 2, 2014 by julie glover. Ive been pushing myself to write every single night in order to get to my goal on time and overcome my procrastination when it comes to writing. Posted on jul, 2015 in articles on writing 0 comments. But say if it is roughly around a size 16 font about 165 pages long. Shorter novels such as fahrenheit 451, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, the great gatsby, and slaughterhousefive are between 40 50,000 words. Most young adult novels fall between 55, 000 and 70, 000 words. Here is a partial list of wellknown novels that contain roughly 50,000 words, which in turn is roughly 175 pages, and are thus comparable to the average size of a nanowrimo winners novel. Mar 18, 2016 science fiction and fantasy novels break the above word count rules and can be longer how many words are there in a scifi or fantasy novel. And this all assumes you are printing it in a novel. The novel gadsby has 50,110 words, yet none of them contain. The best way to find out which publishing house would be interested in your work is to look at their submission guidelines. If the 40,000 word book doesnt do that well, but you go on and do some day write a commercially successful book, your readers will go back and find your. If you look at the national novel writing month, the specification for a book is that its at least 50,000 words, and the idea there is that youre going to write enough during the month of november to have a 50,000plus word manuscript at the end of the month.
Usually i hear that a novel cant be real unless its between 80,000 and 110,000 words. Since 1976, gorham printing has led the print industry with our simple, transparent price structure with no hidden costs. With upper middle grade, you can aim for 40,000 55,000 words. Penned by several authors, the series takes place during the horus heresy, a fictional galaxyspanning civil war occurring 10,000 years prior to the far future of warhammer 40,000.
Of course, any software will give you an exact word count. Just write and wrap it up when you feel it should be ended. We took some of the most popular books of all time and estimated how long it would take the average reader to finish by multiplying word count by. Is 70,000 words for a scifi novel enough i would like to thank everyone who answered my first question. Nov 30, 2012 every year, i participate in national novel writing month, or nanowrimo, an online challenge for which one commits to writing a 50, 000 word novel during november. How to find that book youve spent years looking for. Aug 05, 2019 for most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Roughly how many pages would 50,000 words produce in a.
I magine writing a 50,000word novel without using the letter e. It would make sense that one could write ten 5k word stories, or five 10k word stories and call it a novel. But ive also read about publisher formulas for obtaining a word count. The novel gadsby has 50,110 words, yet none of them. Haruki murakamis 1q84 which runs to 928 pages is one example.
Depends on the font size and the packaging of the book. This past week, i worked quite a bit on a short story a young adult paranormal about a shape shifter. The longest is the order of the phoenix with a word count of 257, 000 words. Scott fitzgerald were alive today and wrote the great gatsby for nanowrimo, he would have fallen short of the minimum length it clocks in at 47, 094 words. My plan for last year was to write a 25k word novella and a 25k word memoir, but even those were a little long. What category would a book of 20,00030,000 words fall. For some reason the amount of 20,000 words seems like a substantial goal in the quest to complete my first novel.
How to find that book youve spent years looking for utne. As ebooks became a viable business model, the rise in popularity of books in the 20,000word range opened the door for authors to publish books about topics that didnt require a full 60,000 word treatment. Ian woon to the traveling shovel of death, from trebuchets to that painting of tom selleck in the nanowrimo office are you doing nanowrimo for the first time. Penned by several authors, the series takes place during the horus heresy, a fictional galaxyspanning civil war occurring 10, 000 years prior to the far future of warhammer 40, 000. Below is a list of book and novel writing competitions. Check out some tips for newbies and the unofficial nano faq.
For example, while most fantasies are typically long, you do see smaller novels in that genre. For most publishers, a book is novellength when its between 50,000 and 110,000 words. Science fiction and fantasy novels break the above word count rules and can be longer how many words are there in a scifi or fantasy novel. The horus heresy is an ongoing series of science fantasy set in the fictional warhammer 40,000 setting of tabletop miniatures wargame company games workshop. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80, 000 words. However all is not lost, a veritable barmy army want gadsby. Mar 02, 2014 some people just continue their current project and write 50k during the month. Heres our word count guide for 18 different book genres. And i mean rockandahardplace, upacreekwithoutapaddle hard. That said, if your book is around 40,000 words, youre in good company.
Here i sit with my book at 30,000 words and it suddenly gets hard. The editors blog is a participant in the amazon services llc associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to. A books word count does matter and if you get it wrong, this can impact. Today i found out ernest vincent wrights 1939 novel gadsby is over 50,000 words long, yet doesnt contain a single letter e anywhere other than the cover given that e is the most commonly used letter in english, you might think this would have been impossible, but wright stated this wasnt nearly as limiting as one might think.
This book is the number one resource of my speech pathologist. The answers were varied but all equally as helpful and im beginning to wish i found this website earlier on. Ive written a novel, loosely based on my life but all characters have fictional names. A published author in 10,000 words or less writeraccess. I can tell you that the average 7090k novel is around 300400 pages long.
But, he also mentions that the wizard of oz was 40,000 words. The short answer to the question about the length of a story is to say every story should be as long as it needs to be. These are for full length books, novelettes or novellas. I really got into it, and the ideas and words and excitement just spilled out on the page. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference.
However, very few novels these days are as short as that. A trade paperback would get you about 350 words per page. I magine writing a 50, 000 word novel without using the letter e. The typical books words perpage count tends to range between 225 and 275an average of 250. Transcendent is likely the best word to describe cloud atlas, likely david mitchells most famous novel. Every now and then a true doorstopper is published. Like a general fiction novel, a good target word count for a memoir is 80,000 words. Novels in the pulps ranged in the 30,000 to 40,000 word length. A manuscript over 40,000 words is considered to be a novel. So here we go once again into book three full of sacred cows of publishing. The other day i was feeling pretty exasperated with myself. In this book, mitchell covers a wide variety of genres, styles, and characters, an act that only the best of the best writers can pull off. Normally listed on their website, these guidelines often list word c.
Sep 18, 2010 it really depends on the type of font you use. There are certainly slow and deliberate ways to write a novel but they wont help you if you need to produce one in a month. Generally, your book needs to hit the mark of 40,000 words before it can be considered a novel. Ok this may have been covered extensively before, but i have read all kinds of things about ideal lengths for novels and just wanted to clarify this in the context of a science fiction novel. These are books that resemble young adult in matter and storytelling, but still. Every year, i participate in national novel writing month, or nanowrimo, an online challenge for which one commits to writing a 50,000word novel during november. How to increase your novels word count noveldoctor. Those of you who dont care about traditional publishing can leave the room now. It organizes almost every common word in the english language by vowel and consonant placement, and is used to help any student of speech pathology, e. For a middle reader aimed at preteens it would be a fulllength book. How to write 50, 000 words in a month national novel writing month challenges more than 300, 000 aspiring writers to create a masterpiece in 30 days. This is a true statement if your goal is to be published through traditional methods someday. That said, this figure differs from book to book and organization to.
However, when you check the word count, it says 20,000 words. Discussion in software started by gatogato, jun 2, 2008. Science fiction and fantasy books should be 90, 000 to 125, 000 words. The title no book but the world of this philosophical and insightful novel stems from sister ava and 2 years younger brother fred who have been brought up free from formal teaching and discipline at a school run by their parents believing learning how to get along in the world is better via experience rather than traditional teaching. For example, it is said that the most perfect word count for a novel is between 8090k.
Book page count calculator how many pages is my novel. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. Your tiredness levels suggest that youve written an epic trilogy. Welcome to wikiwrimo, the unofficial wiki of national novel writing month, camp nanowrimo, and the nonprofit. Apr 23, 2009 ok this may have been covered extensively before, but i have read all kinds of things about ideal lengths for novels and just wanted to clarify this in the context of a science fiction novel. Copyright page samples you can copy and paste into your book. For some reason the amount of 20, 000 words seems like a substantial goal in the quest to complete my first novel. Apr 07, 2012 story length has come up a lot recently, both with readers of the editors blog and with clients so, lets look a bit at story length. But we are also busy people, so its good to know how long it will take us to read this novel. Gadsbys text is a lipogram a form of writing where a letter, or even a number of letters if you are so inclined, are omitted. Most young adult novels fall between 55,000 and 70,000 words.
If the novel is a solid novel at a lower word count, look to see what the word count range of your target market or genre is. That might seem a rather pointless challenge but you can read just such a book gadsby by ernest vincent wright, a selfpublished story from 1939. Im currently on my last two chapters with perhaps 50008000 words to go and sitting on top of 149,000. However, this figure really varies inside the industry. Put simply, the sweet spot for a novels word count is generally said to be around 8090k. See also list of published authors who write quickly for published authors who consistently write at the nanowrimo pace or faster. Multiply the page count by 250, and you have your word count. How to write 50,000 words in a month books the guardian. Here is a partial list of wellknown novels that contain roughly 50,000 words, which in turn is roughly 175 pages, and are thus comparable to the average size of a nanowrimo winners novel see also list of published authors who write quickly for published authors who consistently write at the nanowrimo pace or faster the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy by douglas adams 46,333 words. It has definitely not been the easiest journey so far but i have pushed onward and have reached an estimated one third benchmark. John hewitt november 1, 2014 comments off on how to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. White space counts as words, too, because it takes up space on the page. At a writers conference i recently attended, publishing veteran jane friedman said 80,000 words is good for most fiction, below 60,000 isnt novel length territory, and above 120,000 is likely too much.
A 65k word fantasy novel might be fine and doesnt need to be expanded to 100k. I am describing, however, a real website i created but never successfully launched. Dangerously close to 160,000 words science fiction. Are short novels likely to be published, say, 40,000 words. Hey guys, i was wondering how many more double spaced pages of text in microsoft word i will have to write until it is enough for the average 200 page novel. Im 10,000 words into the first draft of my first novel. How to write 50,000 words in a month national novel writing month challenges more than 300,000 aspiring writers to create a masterpiece in 30 days. The teachers word book of 30,000 words by edward lee. I wrote something for fun that is a little over 27,000. You could fit 200, 000 words on half a page if you do a size 1 font. I am not including details of short story competitions here as i have a separate page for short fiction awards which you can see by clicking here. Your debut novel is 20,000 words long how not to self. Here is a partial list of wellknown novels that contain roughly 50, 000 words, which in turn is roughly 175 pages, and are thus comparable to the average size of a nanowrimo winners novel.
Salman rushdies novel midnights children which won a booker prize and the prestigious booker of bookers is a much longer 208, 773 words. A 65kword fantasy novel might be fine and doesnt need to be expanded to 100k. Clear explanations of natural written and spoken english. I often find myself editing clients manuscripts that are far too long and occasionally far too short. It is going to be over at about 40k, and i was wondering how long would that be. However, there are certain word counts that editors prefer to see when submitting work. Im sorry to be the one to tell you this, but 20,000 words is not a novel. How many words in a novel vary depending on genre, audience, and the story itself but in general, the average words in a novel is between 60,000 and 90,000 words for most genres. Based on this, the novel, whose length has often been debated, begins at 40, 000 words and runs from there up to infinity. Jan 15, 2010 ive written a novel, loosely based on my life but all characters have fictional names. As a publisher who has laid out dozens of books for printinga 50,000 word manuscript should end up somewhere between 180 and 220 pages. Based off of the title alone it might inspire a wtf reaction from. According to the science fiction and fantasy writers of america nebula awards rules, the novelette has a word count between 7,500 and 17,500, while a novella runs from 17,500 to 40, 000 words.
The maximum standard word count for an adult novel is about 110,000 words. But what youve accomplished is not writing a novel. If im not mistaken, the title of the book had the word home in it. The n word is a very well written, thoughtprovoking book about racism, love, and redemption. Whenever i approach a writer about changing the length of their novel, they frequently attempt to prove that the word count is acceptable by throwing around famous novels. By most peoples standards, 40,000 words would be pretty short for a novel. See ballpark pricing for printing 252, 000 hardcover, softcover or spiral books. A novel is considered 40,00050,000 words, so you could stop there. Lewis the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, roald dahls. Jan 21, 2016 how many words are in a novel, on average. The horus heresy is an ongoing series of science fantasy set in the fictional warhammer 40, 000 setting of tabletop miniatures wargame company games workshop. Gadsby is a 1939 novel by ernest vincent wright written as a lipogram, which does not include words that contain the letter e.
I am looking for a novel i read in app 2003 it is a fantasy romance novel about a lonely billionaire that carries this woman to his private island and he. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. The acceptance of a more ambitious word count in these two genres is the need to describe whole new worlds and presumably original. Book one was killing the top ten sacred cows of publishing. Usually, the formula gives a novel a higher word count than. Depending on your genre, having too many or too little can not only hurt your book sales, but also cause fewer 5star. Nov 01, 2014 john hewitt november 1, 2014 comments off on how to write a 50,000 word novel in a month nanowrimo is a project that requires speed. Many small presses publish novellas and short stories. Based off of the title alone it might inspire a wtf reaction from some. A typical novel will normally be 60,000 to 100,000 words, with some of the larger thrillers and genre novels being much longer. How to write a 50,000 word novel in a month john c. The plot revolves around the dying fictional city of branton hills, which is revitalized as a result of the efforts of protagonist john gadsby and a youth organizer.
See also list of published authors who write quickly for published authors. Also, heres another list i may swipe and add in here. Printing a custom book doesnt have to be complicated. Its not about how many words are in your novel or novella. Vikram seths a suitable boy published in 1993 runs to a whopping 49 pages, with a word count of 591, 552. Following the 1987 initial release of games workshops warhammer 40, 000 wargame, set in a far future science fantasy universe, the company began publishing background literature that expands previous material, adds new material, and describes the universe, its characters, and its events in detail since 1997 the bulk of background literature has been published by the affiliated imprint black. A novel is considered 40, 000 50, 000 words, so you could stop there. The amount of pages depends on what word font your using.
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