I'm wrapping up writing a YA fantasy (possibly epic fantasy?) novel, and my projected word count was around 95k. I learned the hard way that word count is like the weather, it doesn't always like to be predicted. Currently sitting at 117k words and would imagine to do the story justice 140-150k is needed. A few things I'm thinking over: -I've had a great ending in mind for a while now, and I really want it to be the conclusion of the first book. It will tie things up nicely and set up for another. -To have this last bit stretched into an entire second book or occur halfway through the second book would sacrifice continuity of the story imo... and I wouldn't want to shrink it down too much and sacrifice quality either. -That in mind, there is a fantastic place to end at around 105k, and it's pretty tempting to go for it. -From what I understand, longer books are more of a risk and do not cater to publishers, so 140-150k is likely off putting. There isn't anything I would want to cut out of the story, but I might be able to trim it to 130k all said and done. What are your thoughts and opinions? Best, Max
Fantasy is a long genre - 140k is if anything a bit on the short side... that said a story is as long as it is so its better to have 100k words of taut well constructed writing than 300k padded out with waffle
I think it depends on the publication house you're submitting to, but I think 150K is a little too long for a YA fantasy, if I'm not mistaken? I've heard of people sending querying letters that are like, "The manuscript I'm currently sending you is at 105k, but I feel it's a little short. If you like the story and are willing to hear me out..." Something like that? Just telling whoever you're querying to that the current manuscript is within the standard YA Fantasy range, but you'd like to discuss the possibility of going over the word count range if they like your story. Now I don't remember where I heard this, so take it with a grain of salt but I feel like that's a good way to go about it. Of course, just straight up saying your fantasy is 150k probably won't hurt either since fantasy is known to be long.
I wouldn't worry too much until after the story is finished. I know a great many people who have dramatically slashed their word count in editing with zero quality loss (and many with quality improvement.) Learn to be really ruthless on the line level. Do you have three sentences of description? Make it two really strong lines instead. Make every word do double duty, cut every word that isn't pulling its weight. Start scenes a smidge later and end them a smidge earlier. Worldbuilding info not directly related to what's going on in the scene? Gone. When editing with the sole purpose of reducing length, you might surprise yourself (Particularly if you can also find a ruthless critique partner, cutting 30k words from a 150k manuscript isn't unreasonable.) 150k YA fantasy will make it much harder to get representation; YA runs shorter in general, and 120k is the recommended ceiling for even adult debut fantasy, for the reasons you cite. There are exceptions, but if you can get it shorter without sacrificing quality, it's worthwhile to do so. If you do go with the 105k version, I wouldn't try to explain the situation in the query letter. If they like the 105k manuscript (and its ending), they will call you and let you ask questions and discuss things before an offer of representation, you can bring it up then. In a query letter, it could easily be misinterpreted as 'The story is actually 150k but since I know that's not acceptable I"m trying to sneak it past you.'
Granted, I'm not an established writer. Or knowledgeable at all. But it seems to me that a story is the length it needs to be. The quality of it determines if it's too long, right? Rereading some of my old attempts, I will tell you that 10,000 words can be longer than 90,000.
If you are writing for publication, the length is determined by the demands of the venue. A magazine that asks for 1200 words is not going to read a 2000 word story and declare it acceptable because the quality is so fine. If you are writing to please yourself, the length is irrelevant.
I'd look at what's been established and aim for that. Twilight: 119k Hunger Games: 100k Harry Potter: 79k Divergent: 105k Maze Runner: 100k etc. You might have a better title in mind. I'm just looking at the big ones I know of. When you submit, you compare your book to what's come before it and aim for their word counts. Book 2 is always bigger than book 1. You really have to rein in book 1. It's the hardest sell. Be careful, is all I'm saying. I suppose my advice is to cut subplots and move them to book 2. There's also a chance that you might be able to take care of it in edits. I typically overwrite draft one and chop 10-15%. Then maybe another 1-2% disappear in the next edits. From that point on it's just a matter of swapping out adds/deletes and the word count pretty much is locked in place. So if I had 140k, I could expect to lose 20k in revision. (I'd be safe in Twilight-range.) So there is that. But you have to know how you edit before you can rely on revisions whittling it down.
This is one of the reasons I refuse to use a thesaurus. It enables such padding. I have read some submissions in here where it seemed like I was reading one.
Thanks everyone! I appreciate all the feedback. The story concluded Wednesday morning at 136k... Not too shabby, and it was a lot of fun to write! I think it's time to bug everyone with another thread though... I'm pretty ignorant about the best way to finish something like this off- it seems a lot like cooking and I don't want to end up burning the manuscript
