NOVEL LENGTH
When I started this journey into becoming a writer I thought my knowledge of good writing and bad writing would sustain me through the process. I began to write stories from my journal of ideas but quickly found myself stuck. My Scrivener account was filled with several inciting incidences and ideas for the climaxes but I would always get stuck at Act II. I also suffered from the creative tendency of not finishing a project because I was too excited for the next idea.
I recognized I had a great deal to learn and needed to be more disciplined. I began to research about format, structures, pacing and character development. My days were filled with research and note-taking while I jotted down book ideas and symbolisms. (I’ll warn you now that I am a huge fan of symbolism.) At some point in the process of perpetual education, I decided I was ready to work on a novel, but I needed to focus my energy on one idea.
My idea for a book came from a conversation followed by a question, “Would people treat me differently if I were a man?” I asked this in a theoretical sense on the literal and began to build and expand on this idea in a book about a woman fed up with being used and neglected even though she followed society’s expectation of being a woman. I wrote and wrote even when I had to painstakingly write some awful lines and paragraphs. I was determined to finish one idea and know the feeling of finishing the last lines of a book.
I did it. I wrote an awful first draft and greatly disliked what I had written. Sections were incomplete, the main character was not likable and the plot was shaky at best. I let my supportive husband read it and then I put the draft in a drawer. Perhaps, I will return to the little novel one day, but not until I am a more seasoned writer. Nevertheless, I did what I set out to do. I wrote a book from beginning to end and got some of the kinks of first novel jitters out of my system.
The range for various novel lengths is between 50,000 and 110,000 depending on genre and age. Standard expectations for a book are around 60,000 to 80,000 words, creating 200 to 300 pages. My first novel only reached 40,000 words which seemed like such a crazy number. I did not know how I could reach another 20,000 more words let alone double that amount to reach a standard-size 300-page novel.
As often as I could, I tried to write 1,000 words a day. With this discipline and a new idea with a more sympathetic main character, I began to work on my second novel. This time I took a classic idea, a Cinderella story arc, and wove together a story while still researching and learning good writing techniques. After a year of plugging away while balancing motherhood and writing, I reached 60,000 words! What is most comforting is my discovery that I am a skeletal writer—forming only the bare bones of a story in my first draft. That meant my 40k-word draft was just a base and I have plenty of room to expand. With length already at the minimum for a standard novel, I am confident that my word count will only grow as I fill in with more detail.
As of now, my goal is to reach 75,000 words. This goal feels manageable and would bring me closer to a 300-page novel. I am not trying to write a saga or an epic, just something light but meaningful. A book that I can be proud of and yet only the first step of many in my writing journey.
Cover Image: Fidelia Bridges. Bird’s Nest and Ferns, 1863. The Art Institute of Chicago