Hello all, I'm brand new but an agent recommended this forum as a good place to bounce ideas off other writers and workshop! So here's the deal: this summer I wrote my first novel. I'd been planning the story and developing the characters for a while, and amazingly enough the book is pretty much exactly what I've always wanted it to be. It's an epic fantasy aimed at the late YA/NA crowd, and it's the first book of a planned series. I'm currently in the process of querying it but I've run into a problem: it's 131k words long, and I'm pretty sure that its massive size is turning agents off. Now, for someone established like GRRM or Sanderson this might be no problem, but from what I've been reading, this is a bit much for a debut author, especially someone aiming at a younger crowd. I could certainly nip and tuck in places and work on tightening my sentences, but I couldn't make any of the major cuts necessary without severely wounding the plot or character development. However, on the plus side, the novel is pretty evenly split into a part one and a part two. I could very easily divide it into two smaller books. The con is that it would lose some cohesion this way, but the pros are that it would be far more marketable and digestable for agents and publishers alike. This would also guarantee a ready-to-go sequel built in. Self pub is always an option, but I'd much prefer the traditional route since I could really use the help of agents and publishers in navigating legalities, marketing, etc. Anyway, my question is this: should I bite the bullet, make the split now, and start querying it that way instead of as a full volume (as I've been doing)? Or should I continue with the full volume, but amend my query letter to indicate that I'm willing to make that split if need be?
Tough call. A shorter book is more likely to sell than a longer book in your situation. However, a good book is much more likely to sell than a crappy book, so if whacking it in half makes it crappy....
You're going to run into some problems. First, yes, that's long for a debut novel, even in epic fantasy, given your audience, although it is possible to go up to 150k and maybe get some bites. You can find people who do sell 200k doorstops for an adult audience but that tends to be rare. Second, most publishers want standalone books from a first time author. They don't want to commit to publishing more books from an author who doesn't sell. Having sequel potential is fine. Requiring sequels is not. You might want to consider making it standalone with sequel potential and you might have more luck.
Hm, that is a conundrum. As a single volume it works fine as a standalone with series potential. However, divided in two, the first part would leave off at a major cliffhanger. I do wish I'd written a smaller standalone novel as my first, but, well, this was the story that wanted out, and out it came. I have a few ideas that may be more appropriate for a debut knocking around in my head, and given the speed I wrote the 131k I could probably crank those out fast, but sadly I'm currently dealing with a horrible case of burnout brought on by non-writing-related life issues. I'm having a hard time feeling motivated to so much as draw a stick figure these days. Anyway, I feel caught between a rock and a hard place. I suppose I could always modify it into two versions and then choose which to query based on the agent.
It doesn't make it crappy, per se. It could work, it would just leave book 1 with a less satisfying ending, as it'd leave the characters at a low point with a lot of unresolved questions.
A lot of stories have a false victory moment, when it appears the hero won the day (in reality things are about to get much, much worse). Can you make that the break between the two stories? False victory, and maybe the resolution gives a hint of trouble brewing...
Im currently mulling over this as well. My draft WAS 134,900somthing words long. I cut it down to 132k, but im no where near done editing. I just googled and came across the article "11 Fat Debut Novels" and was surprised that one author's debut book was WELL OVER 700 pages long. 16 years later, her 2nd novel is like 200something pages long. Both were/are best sellers. I have hope, you should too
That's definitely encouraging, thank you. I know it's rare, but it does help to think of other examples. My book shares some similarities with Lev Grossman's The Magicians, for example (in fact, I've been querying with that comparison) and that book was much longer. I've also heard some feedback from someone who works in publishing, and they strongly advised me to leave it as a whole, since splitting it would disrupt the arc of the characters and plot. She advised me to challenge myself to find a way to cut ~10k words without sacrificing anything important, such as by tightening sentences and eliminating repetitions. She also suggested that I make it clear in my query letter that I'm willing to work with agents and editors if the word count is still too big for them.
I've got three giant space opera sagas on my laptop, one seven books long, the other three books long. I'm putting off the problem of what to do with them by self-publishing a collection of seven short stories.
Working on my first book and it'll be well over 150K words. I'm tempted to finish it and then write a second book thats short and sweet and then circle back to try and see what happens to this one. Sound crazy?
How did you get on? Had you sent it to a professional editor prior to sending out to agents, rather than just overall feedback? Unless it's already been line edited by a pro editor and you've redrafted several times, you'll easily be able to cut 10% of the word count without affecting story and you'll most likely end up with much tighter prose and a more saleable story. Congrats on the achievement though. Sounds like you really got something which had been brewing inside you out and onto the page, which is no mean feat. But that's when the hard work begins I definitely made the classic mistake of sending stuff out way too early, but how can you not with all that excitement of finishing something. Ah but then you find out it ain't finished, not by a long shot...
