I am feeling all kinds of emotions right now. I am currently on the second to last chapter of my WIP and this chapter is going to be really short since its more of a transition to the end and the end is a review of the lessons my main learned and closure for the readers. The last chapter is probably going to be short as well. Now I am nearly finished I am starting to second guess myself. The work count is about 5000 words less than what I originally aimed for but I felt ending the book now was better for the story as to not drag it out. Also considering that I know I will be adding more words during the revision process. Even though I know its a good time to end the book, I am feeling like I am rushing to get to the end. Anyone else second guess their story length whether too long or too short? Also I spent so much time working on this that I feel sad letting go of my characters and putting the final period in there.
Don't worry, with all the edits that await you, you'll inflate your word count and get sick of your characters :3
I get where you're coming from, with all the 'standard fiction lengths' my brain tries to convince me that I should add words/srhink the whole thing so it would 'fit in'. I guess, you just have to go with your gut and write as it comes, after he final edit you will be able to see what the whole thing turned out to be. About the ending, even if you rush it now, you will be editing it, so no harm done there. When you revise and re-write, you will get it right. Good luck and congrats on finishing a story!
I don't have much/anything to say about your word count concerns, having never finished anything above 10-15K words. I would however risk saying that finishing the work when it 'feels' right sounds like a FAR better option then trying to drag the story out with unecessary content. I mainly wanted to say congrats on nearing the end of your story! Good luck with the editing!
I hear conflicting things about word counts, but they do seem pretty important to agents and publishers. Plus or minus 5k doesn't sound like a big deal though, and if my experience is anything to go by your word count will change drastically in the editing process. In my case, I wanted to lose 20k and ended up gaining another 10!
Well now I have finished the first draft. I started editing but now I have stopped. I wanted to take a break and felt i should take a few weeks away from my work. The only parts that I have edited so far I haven't touched in a bout two months so I felt it was okay. So far I have cut a lot out but I have added a lot in as well so work count wise I am still at 63k. I figured it would equal out. I was hoping for 70k for a YA novel but I do feel better about my word count now.