Is my story too long to be published?

Discussion in 'Word Mechanics' started by Morgan Stelbas, Sep 15, 2016.

  1. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one!
     
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  2. PapaSmurfberry

    PapaSmurfberry Active Member

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    Well can you name another book written in both the present tense, and the past tense, told from a multitude of character perspectives as well through newspaper, magazines, and interviews before it.

    Granted I have seen some of the worse emulation come from it but at its time it was truly visionary.

    It is like the original Blair Witch Project, would it get made today probably not. But if it was never made then there wouldn't be an entire sub genre of movies based upon its style meaning it would still be visionary and would get made.

    Lol

     
  3. Morgan Stelbas

    Morgan Stelbas Active Member

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    Lol! Well, I'm pretty good at spelling, and most grammar rules, but I think either I was sick those days or our schools didn't teach grammar around dialogue text and when it's appropriate to break a paragraph, except for the "different subject" rule. So my grammar needs some work, to say the least. Is that what you meant by functional illiteracy, lol?

    Anyway, thanks so much for the numbers you posted and the links. I guess I knew my story was too long before I started this, but stubbornly hoped creative style would win. But I have become painfully aware that in real life, money counts, and publishers can't risk spending too much money on a new author. I totally get it. I have been offline these last couple of weeks re-thinking my story and how to change it to be less wordy, and what parts and adjectives (as suggested) by @PapaSmurfberry to re-work and/or delete.:confuzled:

    Thanks everyone for the suggestions and, I guess, the off-topic arguments too, lol!:D
     
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  4. editorjaneh

    editorjaneh New Member

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    Morgan, my advice would be to let someone read your book, and get some feedback on the length. If the pages flow and one chapter speeds by after another, then the current length doesn't matter. If your reader gets bogged down with too much description or finds it hard to remember all your character names, then you'll know the length is problematic, and you can give your book a proper structural edit.
     
    Morgan Stelbas likes this.

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