W is for Wordcount

Wordcount is something I've talked of so much in the world of publishing. Too long? Too short? What's right for a novel? Well, there's no right or wrong answer, but there are a few general examples that you can follow, in my opinion:

1. If it's less than 50,000 words, it can usually be considered a novella. That's not say that there aren't novels that are under 50,000 words, or that there is some concrete number to abide by. This is just a ballpark estimate, where you should be safe.

2. A young adult novel is generally between 50,000 and 80,000 words. When Harry Potter and Twilight came out, the word count that was seen as adequate for teen novels went up, but most agents said they were turning down novels that were over 100,000 words because they were just too long.

3. A general fiction novel can pretty much be as long as you need to tell the story. I'm almost positive an agent never turned Stephen ing down because his novels were too lengthy

4. When writing a novel, don't focus on word count. Do what you need to do to tell the story. If someone doesn't approve of the length, well there are others out there who will.

xoxo,

Vicky