I'm in the beginning stages of writing a novel. Haven't written anything yet but have been outlining. I feel overwhelmed by the word count. This is my first novel and feel like it will be too short or that I won't have anything to say. Is 50,000 words to short? I'm writing a fantasy romance, how many words should I aim for maybe 70,000? Have you ever run out of words to say or come up short?
Many sub-genres of romance come in at around 55,000 words. 70,000 is actually quite long for a romance although, I think, short for a fantasy. You're best off googling publishers who accept fantasy romance and reading their submission guidelines.
My advice would be to just focus on telling the story. Don't worry about the word count. If you feel you're coming up too short, then you may need to develop your plot a little more, maybe even add subplots for your characters to deal with.
Yes and another important thing to remember is that the editing process usually reduces your word count by a big chunk.
Thanks for the feedback! Can't wait to start writing. The outline process kind of takes the fun out of writing but I'm definitely a writer who needs structure.
Oh same here. If I don't know what I'm doing, I end up with 22,000 words of random, chaotic scenes. And yes, I meant that literally with no metaphor implied. I literally have a story draft of 22,000 words, 111 pages long with no order, rhyme, or coherent sense whatsoever!
