{"id":319,"date":"2009-12-17T16:15:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-17T16:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thatelusiveline.wordpress.com\/2009\/12\/17\/is-my-novel-too-long"},"modified":"2009-12-17T16:15:00","modified_gmt":"2009-12-17T16:15:00","slug":"is-my-novel-too-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.paulkirkdesign.co.uk\/devblock\/ttaylor111\/is-my-novel-too-long\/","title":{"rendered":"Is My Novel Too Long?"},"content":{"rendered":"
The first draft of The Ghost Effect<\/em> is now complete at just a little over 74,000 words. Is this too much? Of course, I know there’s no easy answer to this. Except, wait! My agent did once tell me that a story is only too long if it feels<\/em> too long. So there’s my answer. The problem is, the last person to judge that is the author himself.<\/p>\n

All first drafts need several edits to get them into shape, and my novel is no different. The very first revision will of course include the rampant removal of rogue elements, maybe even whole scenes, and this could bring the text below the magic 70k threshold. But why have I even imposed such an arbitrary limit on myself? Philip Pullman doesn’t seem concerned (not that I’d have the brass neck to pursue such a comparison).<\/p>\n

The fact is, I’m baffled by this subject, and even my imaginary eleven-year-old is too precocious to help me. Authors should write with a clear idea of their readership<\/a>, but while those who write for fellow adults can use themselves as ideal readers, children’s writers have to peer into the fog of otherness for a glimpse of theirs. My own memories of being eleventyteen are too faint to go much beyond abstract unhappiness and apprehension about homework. My own two children won’t be able to help me do better than this for at least another six years yet, so I’m reduced to picking up what I can, where I can get it \u2013 mostly from other books targeted at a similar age. This is what makes people like this <\/a>so important to someone like me.<\/p>\n

For those who don’t know, children’s books are roughly age-banded into four main groups: picture books for the under fives, first reader\/chapter books for 5 to 8, first novels for 9 to 12 (termed ‘middle grade’ in the US) and then ‘teen fiction’ or ‘young adult’, which usually trails off at about 16 because readers older than this can and do wade out into the deeper currents of mainstream literature.<\/p>\n

So step one for a children’s writer is to consciously aim at some place on this spectrum, whilst hoping that the book will also appeal to others outside it, especially in a world where adults are increasingly turning to kid-lit for their kicks. The Ghost Effect<\/em> was written straight at the upper end of 9 to 12, with a little overlap beyond. This sub-band is sometimes termed ‘upper middle grade’ or ‘tween’ fiction. So, how long should a book for this age group ideally be? I really don’t know, and frankly I don’t think anyone does, but editors I submit my text to will all have an opinion.<\/p>\n

Some on-line sources say that fiction for 9 to 12-year-olds should rarely exceed 50k words, but others (perhaps more recent) note that 9-year-olds are tackling longer and longer texts. This is encouraging but it doesn’t really answer my question.<\/p>\n

I recently discovered that you can find a word count for selected books on Amazon by hunting for the ‘Text stats’ link in the ‘Inside This Book’ sub-menu (about half way down a given book’s page). It’s a shame this isn’t available for all books, but it does help deepen my unholy obsession with quantity.<\/p>\n

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this moveable feast, whether you’re writing for children\/young adults or not. I know the answer is ‘it depends’, but still…<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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