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 incidents 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 about the next idea.
I recognized I had a great deal to learn and needed to be more disciplined. I began to research 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, not the literal. I 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 expectations of being a woman. I 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 a rough first draft and greatly disliked what I had written. Some sections were incomplete, the main character was unlikable, 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 accomplished what I set out to do. I wrote a book from beginning to end and got some of the first-novel jitters out of my system.
The range for various novel lengths is between 50,000 and 110,000 words, depending on genre and age. Standard expectations for a book are around 60,000 to 80,000 words, resulting in 200 to 300 pages. My first novel only reached 40,000 words, which seemed like a crazy number. I did not know how I could reach another 20,000 words, let alone double that amount to reach a standard 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.
My current 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, 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