Is This A Problem

My first instincts tell me maybe, but then the old saying of 'a story takes as long as it takes to tell the whole story' rings through the vacant space which I refer to as my mind.

I'm going to struggle to make 50k in my current WIP. A little while back, Cate mentioned she was struggling to find wordage and thought I'd have no problems reaching my goal. At the time I said I didn't think that was the case. Tonight I did a new outline of the last third of the book based on a new scene I had an idea for. I managed to re-script chapter 11 entirely, reworked chapter 12, and added a new chapter 13.

Total plot now plays out over 16 chapters instead of 15. Current average length of each chapter sits at 2100 words (some longer, some shorter). That math seems to suggest a first draft of 33600k, somewhat short of my target...

I know I want to go back and add in some additional layers, so I don't really see an issue with being able to legitimately move the wordage up close to 40k.

So I guess that's what I'm really looking at as my first target. I have a couple of other scenes which may need to be played out in the beginning of the book, but I'm not sure if they're needed and won't really know until the first draft is done.

The question I'd like to ask you: Should I drop my target at this point? If yes, should it go to 33.6k or 40k? If no, then do I stop and continue to work the outline to expand the scenes I think I need?

Am I thinking too much and should I just shut up and write the story, and who really cares about wordage and percentages anyway?

Did I just answer my own questions?

So I've done some writing last night and again tonight, as well as the new outline which is fairly detailed. I've also managed to complete another third of my current book-for-review. I'll finish 'This Is Not A Game' tomorrow and write up a first draft review (hint: it's a good book to this point), and then round out this weeks WIP total with a couple more hours on the laptop.

If things continue as they are, Nathan Steele, Book One (still looking for catchy title), will have it's first draft complete by the end of September. It's something to aim for...

Interesting YA Facts

(Don't forget about Alan Baxter's blog tour - we're up to day 7 already. Only two more days till his guest appearance here.

Don’t forget that for the duration of the tour (until July 29th) you can get ebook editions of both RealmShift and MageSign for just US$1 each. This is an offer exclusive to Smashwords. The beauty of that is that Smashwords offer the books in a variety of formats, including Kindle friendly .mobi editions. (If you're lucky enough to have a Kindle...)

To get your special priced copies all you have to do is enter a discount code at the checkout. This will change the price from the usual US$3.50 to a special price of US$1. Go here for RealmShift and enter code ZR95S at the checkout; go here for MageSign and enter SF97B at the checkout.)

But this post isn't about reminding you of things wonderful and adult fiction related...

I've still been pondering the lengths of novels in different YA categories. As many of you have pointed out, if my current WIP finishes at 40-45K, some agents may consider it a novella. If I over expand with a new subplot or ten, then some agents would consider over 80k to be too long.

As an aspiring novelist, we should be looking to remove as many hurdles as possible - writing the damn thing in the first place followed by all the revision, editing and rewriting is hard enough, you don't need to be cutting off your nose to spite your face in regards to finding someone to sell it when you're finished.

So, I figured I'd try and find out what the norm is and an easy way to keep that information up-to-date. General consensus is somewhere between 40-80k will have an agent, somewhere, willing to have a look, but I want to narrow that range so we have a greater chance of success.

Firstly, regardless of the numbers you come up with and how long your beloved masterpiece is, always check individual agents/publishers guidelines to see if your manuscript meets their requirements.

Now, exactly how long should that manuscript be?

Over at Modern Matriarch is an article discussing this topic. The important bit of information here is this:

So how do you determine which length is suitable for your book?...Find five or six books within your books genre, and then follow this simple formula:

Book pages x lines on a full page x 9 = number of words

To simplify this further - a standard size mass market paperback has around 36 lines of text per page making your formula: Number of pages x 36 x 9

For example:

Fahrenheit 451 - 192 pages x 36 x 9 = 62208 words
Where the wild things are - 48 pages x 36 x 9 = 15552 words
Brave new world - 288 pages x 36 x 9 = 93312 words

How about some more recent titles.

Twilight Book 1 - 544 pages x 36 x 9 = 176256 words!
Harry Potter (1) - 309 pages x 36 x 9 = 100116 words (book 7 has 784 pages!)

What about recent releases from lesser known authors:

Resurrection (Wicked) by Nancy Holder - 416 pages x 36 x 9 = 141264 words!
Totally Fabulous by Michelle Radford - 256 pages x 36 x 9 = 82944 words

So far, all the YA books I've looked at have been what many would consider on the longer side, apart from the classic "Where the wild things are" which only has 48 pages, but then that isn't in a standard format and is more for younger kids.

So lets find some on the smaller end. (Thanks to Jamie for the classics)

Of Mice And Men - 112 pages = 36288 words
Animal Farm - 128 pages = 41472 words
Lord of the Flies - 190 pages = 61560

More recent...:

His name was death - 128 pages = 41472 words
Jade Green - 176 pages = 57024

So, yes - Cate is very correct in her statement that 'a story will be as long as it's supposed to be', and you need to research the agents/publishers so you send it only to those who will look at the manuscript length you've written.

But many don't publish the lengths they're after so I've gone ahead and looked at a whole bunch of recently published YA novels and have come to the conclusion that the range to hit the majority of agents/publishers will be more like 50-65K. (155 pages - 200 pages)

Conclusions:

For those of you who just sit down and write without an outline - just sit down and write - and know that I hate you ;cP

For those of us who need an outline, you need to be looking at around 20 chapters with 2500+ words in each. This should give you something that is fast paced, snappy, and if the content is right, a page turner readers will enjoy.

As an outliner, or a plodder as some people label it, I very much go by the formula Alexandra Sokoloff suggests as part of her story structure technique. With a target of 20 chapters it becomes a simple breakdown of Act 1 being around 8 chapters (first 60-80 pages), Act 2 being around 9 chapters (page 61-125 or 81-170)and Act 3 being 3 chapters (126-155 or 171-200).

Does all this sound like I'm being overly formulaic? Do I sound like I'm trying to make this too much like slot A goes into flap B? Is art something that should not be tied down with such mundane constraints?

I agree, but I also want to be published and these are the numbers the industry is tending to publish. I'm not saying if you write something of 40K (or 120K) that you won't be published - I think I've shown plenty of examples to say otherwise, but the majority of current debut authors in YA fiction are within these parameters and the majority of agents/publishers are requesting to read manuscripts of these lengths.

If nothing else, it's a starting point to aim for.

Make of it what you will...

YA Fiction

Lots more research done - surfing the web is one of my true skills - and I've discovered a couple of things.

There is no definitive word length for YA. Books have been published from 20k up to and past 100K. The majority of sources quote 40-60K as the norm. Surprisingly few suggest checking with the guidelines on prospective agents or publishers websites (I would suggest this be a step set in concrete).

Secondly, a good YA story will take as many words as it takes to tell the whole story so write the manuscript, polish it till it shines, and then worry about word length.

Doesn't that second one sound like good advice for all fiction?

So if you take care of the second point, the first point will take care of itself, and don't believe everything you read on the web. There are a lot of uninformed people out there who are either guessing or purposely spreading bad information...150K as the norm - as if!

Back to work...