Word count, or how long should your novel be?

Per your request, I will attempt to shed wisdom on something which I'm still discovering for myself, namely, how long should a novel be? How many words? I don't have a specific number I'm adhering to in my novels, rather, a certain feeling I have gathered from reading books, primarily traditionally published. I would imagine this topic is more of a pressing issue for self-publishing authors as we have no team of professionals to rely on, somebody who can tell us how long our novels should be, depending on the genre, on the type of novel, etc. I'll share with you my story, my numbers, and my feelings on it, and hopefully it will be helpful. Maybe it will even make me realize things I haven't realized before. 

A typical novel is about 80K-100K words long. This is literally the only piece of information I have gathered from writing groups, from other writers who told me about it, and such. This is a very broad number that includes adult novels in all genres, from literary to sci-fi to fantasy to westerns to even memoirs (for the purpose of this blog, though, I'm only covering fiction books). In this range, 80K-90K words is considered to be a more typical length, lower than 80K on the short side, and higher than 100K on the long side, with over 120K words considered too long. From what I heard about YA novels, the number hovers around 60K-80K words, and middle grade books even lower, 20K-50K words. This is not my domain, however, I'm only sharing with you what I heard and read about online. Now, from my personal experience of reading, I have read books that are total exceptions to this rule, for example, Chuck Palahniuk's debut novel (and one of my favorite books) Fight Club is only 50K words, and Haruki Murakami's 1Q84, another one of my favorite books, is 3 books in 1, and about 230K words long (I haven't been able to find the exact word count, calculated it from 925 pages multiplied by typical 250 words per page). Then there is Neil Gaiman's new novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, a rather slim book at only 192 pages, which would make it about 48K words (haven't read it yet, but thinking maybe Neil got to the point of being able to say more with less?). To look at my own stuff, the total word count for Siren Suicides is 245K words, with book 1 at 78K words, book 2 at 75K, and book 3 at 92K. I can keep going here with other examples, from Harry Potter to A Game of Thrones to everything else under the sun. This leads me to the next point.

You novel should be as long as it takes to tell your story. After having written only 3 books (well, 1 that split into 3), and writing my 4th one, I firmly believe in this. Throw all rules out of the window. Precisely because you are self-publishing, you can do whatever you want. Your story will tell you when it's complete. If it's only 10K words, well, it was never meant to be a novel. So finish it, publish it as a novelette, and move on. You might still make it into a novel. For example, Hugh Howey, the awesome rising self-publishing star, self-published the first installment to his Wool story as a novelette at only 12K words. He then wrote 4 more novelettes, in the same world, added them and published all 5 together as one book, Wool, at 528 pages, so about 130K words.  It really comes down to the story. If I may be so bold, I would suggest you to stop thinking about word count altogether and start thinking ONLY about your story. A great short story is better than a long drawn out novel that nobody wants to read. On my own example, I'm learning the lesson of saying more with less. I think I have overwritten Siren Suicides by doing 5 drafts. People who beta read 4th draft told me that although it was confusing, it was raw and charged, and after I have attempted to make it sleek and clean, I ended up expanding it to the point of being too long. I'm thinking about maybe coming back to it later and editing it down to one book, and republishing. We shall see how it does. But I can tell you that while writing it I didn't really worry much about word count. I wrote it for therapy, and it ended up being as long as it ended up being. 

Listen to your readers, they will tell you how long they want it. This is something that is maybe applicable only to those people who employ a similar process of writing as me. I'm basically sharing my entire writing process and crowd source feedback, by making all of my drafts available for download on my site and sending them to everyone who wants to read them and give me feedback. In general, if the majority of people tell me something is too long, than it is too long. If they tell me it's too short, than it is too short. I believe in this sense, the more you write, the better you get to feel your own length of your novels. There is a certain rhythm, a certain tempo to your words, and it's what makes you YOU. If you try to be someone else, your readers will sense the lie and ditch you pretty quickly. So don't be afraid if you are a bit on the longer side. So what? It's you, stay you, please. Same goes for short. I would say, write as many flash fiction pieces or short stories as you need to write, to finally write a novel. Your story will tell you when it wants to be longer and become one. Strangely enough, I have never written any short stories, launching into novel writing right away, and I tend to be on the long side. Maybe it's me, maybe I need to write a lot. Only future will tell.

There. I hope this was helpful. I think the biggest takeaway from this is just to keep writing. Our stories will decide themselves how long they want to be.

Closing your novel

This is a very scary topic for me to write about, because even though I've written 3 books of SIREN SUICIDES, technically, it's 1 book broken into 3. It has 1 major ending, and it didn't come to me until Draft 4, despite the fact that I planned it out beforehand. As I kept rewriting, the ending kept changing, until it felt right. Now, with ROSEHEAD, my second novel, the story is completely different. I didn't meticulously plot it like I did SIREN SUICIDES. As of this moment, I'm about 90% done, with 31 chapters of Draft 1 completed, at about 92K words and 4 or 5 more chapters to go, meaning that I'm smack in the middle of this wonderful topic on how to close a novel. And I have no idea how it will end! Scary, eh? I think so far from my experience (please bear in mind that it's been only 1 year since I started writing full time) is to let your story close itself. Meaning, keep writing until you can't write anymore. Here is what I mean by it.

If ending falls short in 1st draft, it will expand in the next drafts. Don't freak out if at 30K words you suddenly can't write anymore because it seems like your story has simply dried out. It happened to me with SIREN SUICIDES, at one of my earlier attempts, and I thought I would never return to it, shelving it. But the story kept living on in my head and wouldn't let me go. In short, I have gone through about 4 completely different endings until I found the right one. So, rule number one, remember, your story is like an accordion, as you write it, it will expand, then shrink, then expand, it will keep doing it until it can't do it anymore. When it will stop, you should stop writing it, and whatever ending you end up with, will be your end. If you don't like it, please don't try fixing it. Instead, be done with this book and move on to the next one, because you will see the ending forming in your head quicker than your first time writing, guaranteed. 

A novel is like a bundle of ropes woven into a braid. It doesn't matter in what genre you're writing, your novel will have multiple plots simply by the virtue of having at least 2 characters, because without conflict there is not story, and there is no conflict without at least 2 characters, even if one of them is the inner representation of the other. Each of the characters will want something, or something will happen to them, or they will mention some secret about something. Whatever it is, my method is to write it down on sticky notes and pepper my writing desk with them, to remember what loops I opened, to be able to close them at the very end. So I imagine they are ropes strung through the fabric of my novel, and I need to touch upon them as I go, more so on the bigger ones, less on the smaller ones, but I need to close every single loop, or finish the braid, at the end of my novel. What inevitably happens in multiple drafts is that some "ropes" fall off and new ones develop, so that by the end I don't remember what started where. If you feel the same, it's okay! That's what multiple drafts are for, for polishing to tucking those loose ropes into the braid so it looks nice and snug. It's even okay if you don't close all of them, just read 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami and you'll see what I mean.

Each character must reach her or his goal in the end. I touched upon this a little befote in describing plots, but this is a slightly different thing called a character arc (or, at least, I think I remember reading about it called like that, so don't kill me if I'm wrong). In the simplest sense of the word, every character wants something and by the end of the novel it will either get it or not, therefore causing the character to undergo a major change. This is why we read stories, we want to see how a hero overcomes a monster, to be able to believe that it's possible and do it in real life. This means that if by the end of your novel not all of your characters have gotten their goals, your reader will be disappointed and not very happy with the book. We like closed loops, we don't like feeling confused, we like seeing the hero succeed and the monster defeated. Keep writing until you resolve each character's wish, even if it means writing a very very long draft. Remember, it's like an accordion, in the next draft you will shrink it, cutting out the water and keeping solid stuff.

Above all, you must feel you're done with it. It all comes down to you. You're the writer, the creator, and you will know in your gut when your story is over.  As soon as you feel it, stop. It might be an arbitrary moment, nothing spectacular, but if feels right, it must be the end. Here is the trick. If you were truthful to yourself, if you really opened up your guts and spilled your deepest emotions on paper, the ending will not only feel right to you, it will feel right to your reader, because the reader connects with you emotionally, and there will be nothing worse if you force the ending because you read in some book that it's how it's supposed to be. Even this blog that I wrote, take note of it but still listen to yourself. Disregard what I wrote here, feel. Does it feel right? Then your story is over. Is there more? Then write more. The only rule you can apply here is this: KEEP WRITING. The more books you will write, the faster you will read your inner signals at how to properly close your novel.

Whew. I hope it made sense to you and was helpful. I'm still working out this for myself, like I said, being in the middle of closing my 2nd novel, so feel free to chime in the comments and let me know what you think! 

Past versus present tense

This rickety subject of timing didn't come out of my head, oh no, it was all my Twitter followers' doing who asked me to write about it. But, however, because they know me better than I do, as soon as they asked, I realized I did both and have perhaps something to say on the subject (whether or not it will be a wise thing, I doubt it). Anyway... How do you choose what tense to squeeze your story into? I say, don't. I say, the story will tell you itself and if you try to bend your story, it will bite you back, so I highly recommend to steer clear of it, that is, if you want your story to have teeth, of course. Let me just recount my personal experiences on doing both and you decide for yourself what suits you best. 

Present tense is more personal. When I started writing SIREN SUICIDES, I didn't think about it in terms of a novel, it was more like therapy for me, to let out my personal pain, to bleed it out on the page and feel better. Naturally, most sentences started with words like "I feel nothing..." and "I hug my hunger..." and such. It was as if I was writing about me, only it was Ailen Bright speaking, my character, speaking through me, yet allowing me to be very much in touch with her, as if possessing her and re-experiencing everything through her eyes. It felt very personal, it was hard to write, but it was also very cleansing. So I would suggest, if you are ready to see your story unfold through the eyes of your main character, choose present tense. But, remember, you will be restricted by only being able to cover what the character sees, without being able to shift between characters.

Past tense is more observant. Now that I'm done with SIREN SUICIDES and am writing ROSEHEAD, I'm gleefully enjoying writing in the past tense. Why? Because it gives me the status of on observer. Where as before I was being able to look at the world from one perspective only, literally, looking only through Ailen's eyes, now all of a sudden I get to soar above the world I'm creating, shifting between scenes and characters and places at will and sensing more freedom, yet at the same time a bit less of a personal connection. Is this a good thing? Yes, I let the story drive me forward, unlike I did with SIREN SUICIDES (I meticulously plotted it and am writing ROSEHEAD without any plot whatsoever). Is this a bad thing? Yes, I don't feel as personally connected to my main character. But, on the flip side, I am able to connect to more characters and develop them better, because I am slipping in and out of their multiple skins. So, does it let me develop an overall richer background? You bet, for one, as compared to only 8 characters in SIREN SUICIDES, I have a whooping 26 and more coming in ROSEHEAD. Compare Life of Pi and A Game of Thrones, you'll see what I mean. Both are excellent and very different.

Past tense is more complex, present is simpler. I am, of course, grossly dumbing down the concept here, but it's only because in this blog post alone I won't be able to demonstrate the difference, but if you could just go to Amazon right now and read the beginning of Fight Club and 1Q84, for example, you will see how one grabs you personally, and the other grabs you observantly. I'm by no means an expert, but it felt to me like this when reading both novels, and I'm sure that scores of you will disagree with me. Again, this is my first time writing novels, so I can't tell you with an important look in my eyes and my chest puffed out like that of a popinjay that I'm absolutely right, but I'm an avid reader, and that's the impression I get. If you set out to create a complex magical world, chances are, you would be better off with past tense. If you are wanting to write a highly emotional personal novel where personal experiences are core to your character, it's probably better to choose present tense. 

The takeaway from this? Take the lead from your story. That first sentence you put on the napkin when you had your idea first surface in your head, what tense did you write it in? That first attempt at seriously starting the first chapter, what tense did you start in? Your subconscious is always smarter than you, go with your first impulse. Your first impulse is always right, yet the longer you linger, the more you will start thinking, the more doubt will settle in, and ultimately you might lose that spark that you had and feel obligated to me your piece of art, because you started, not because you feel excited. So be foolish, pick what comes naturally, and go with it. Remember, you can always write another book after this one. 

Pantsing versus plotting

This is a very interesting topic to cover, and it didn't even occur to me until my Twitter followers asked me to write about it. And write about it I will, because I happen to do both. I have plotted SIREN SUICIDES extensively, creating a whole separate folder full of files, with a biography of every character, their specific backstories, the origins of their names, etc. I also spent countless hours on research and have gone through multiple little notebooks where I have written out every single chapter as one line and as a paragraph summary, constantly going over it and cleaning it up until I felt I got it right. SIREN SUICIDES was my 1st novel (it will be published in July). I'm currently writing my 2nd novel, and the process couldn't have been more different. I've planned nothing at all. A vivid scene, like from a movie, came to me in a dream, I woke up and quickly wrote it down, then more scenes came to me, when daydreaming, about 5 total, while I was finishing the last draft of SIREN SUICIDES. After I was done, I took 2 weeks off and plunged right into ROSEHEAD, only using 1 piece of paper with names of characters written on it and about 10 sticky notes with little clues written on them, stuck to my table. That's it. I'm about 2/3 done with 1st Draft of ROSEHEAD, so bear this in mind. I'm not experienced in this at all, but so far from what I've done and from what it feels like, I prefer pantsing to plotting. Here is why. 

I write like I read somebody else's book. Literally, every day when I wake up, I have this picture in my head, like a movie I was watching the night before that has been put on pause, and I pick up from the moment I left off. I have no idea what the day will bring, what my characters will do or how. Just yesterday a new character appeared in a chapter, only to promptly die at the end of said chapter. I was astounded when it happened. I swear, it wasn't me! The characters did it themselves, it just had to happen, to push the story forward. Now, this sounds very scary and disorganized, doesn't it? But here it why I prefer pantsing. The excitement of discovering what happens next is what keeps me going. It's like I'm reading a book, and can't wait to know how it ends. This cures me of writer's block. I don't have one. I don't like stopping, and I can't wait to start again. I feel like I'm totally fooling everyone, including myself, and am getting away with it. It's the ultimate mischief. When I compare it with SIREN SUICIDES, I remember with horror how I made myself write it in later stages, how hard it was to start every day. I already knew what was going to happen, and simply describing it didn't give me as much satisfaction as I get now. How will ROSEHEAD compare? I have no idea. My readers will tell me, but I know that I'm having fun writing it. 

Fresh ideas make me write very fast. I figure, if I'm excited while writing my book, my reader will be excited to read it. Whatever I feel, the reader will feel. So if I'm bored, my reader will be bored. Because I have no outline, no plan at all, I just go crazy. The first thing that comes into my head, I write it down. Because of this, I hardly spend time thinking or researching, I barely have time to write it all down. And, as a result, I write very fast, producing about 2,000 to 3,000 words a day on average, during a 3-4 hour chunk of time, sometimes up to 4,000 words or more. I will be done with 1st Draft in a couple weeks, which makes it 6 weeks total for first draft. This keeps me going, because I can picture the book happening already, it kind of drives itself. I'm not pausing to doubt, or to research, or to think, or to gather my wits, or whatever else it is we writers do that takes us away from actual writing and gets us into the land of misery called everything-I-write-is-shit-and-nobody-will-ever-read-it. Yeah, I know, I've been there. It's horrible. I nearly got pulled into it today, when I started thinking too much. Reading Harry Potter helped me put myself on track, because I saw how J.K. Rowling totally goes nuts with her imagination, so I slapped myself hard for doubting.

I do more writing and less planning. I realized that all this time I spent on planning and plotting and outlining SIREN SUICIDES, I could have spent on writing something new. With ROSEHEAD, I'm not losing this time, I'm doing actual writing. Yes, you might tell me, it will suffer because of it. Yes, you can roll your eyes here at me. I totally get it.  But for a rookie writer like me, for a beginner like me, writing time is precious experience time. The more I write, the better I will get. So what if I will write trash. I will trash it and write more trash. I will trash that too and will write even more trash. I will keep writing trash unti it turns into gold. Fresh stories will keep me going, instead of having me focused on planning something old and tired that doesn't get me excited anymore. Why suffer? Life is too short for that. I don't know if any of my novels will ever enable me to make a living. My savings are slowly running out. I have about 9 months left. I want to have fun now, to write now, until I'm out of money and might not be able to write anymore. Pantsing gives me so much fun, I sometimes feel guilty, because it feels like I don't deserve, like I'm having too much fun, and someone will come and beat me up for it.

Until then, I will keep writing the crazy stuff that comes into my head and have fun at it, hopefully giving my readers the same fun while they are reading my novel. If they will want to read it, of course. They might come back and say: "You know, Ksenia, this ROSEHEAD thing of yours, it's complete rubbish." And so I will be off again, writing more, writing as fast as I can, while I can, to hopefully produce a better book. This is my story. What's yours? What method do you prefer and why? Come on, share in comments. I would love to learn from your experience. 

Plotting a novel using socks

Right. This was supposed to be a blog post on character development, as folks on Twitter asked me to write one, but it turns out I already blogged about that, using PINK TUTUS as an example. So, then. Since I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I was so taken by how masterfully J.K. Rowling does her plotting, that I feel inspired to write about plotting, or, rather, how I do it, using socks as examples. Why socks? Because it was all the rave last morning in Twitterverse, which, as you can tell, is sort of like my writer's group and my sounding board. Anyway, socks it is and plotting it is, well, how you do it then? How do you plot a novel? You don't. At first. Hold on to your chair and don't yell at me, here is what I mean by it.

Don't plot until your first draft is finished. Okay, this is key, at least this is what I have learned, so please don't assume like this is some sort of special truth, it is not. It's what works for me. The idea is this. Your subconscious knows better than you do. Now, very few of us know how to turn off the noise in our brains and go down to the place that we only feel. It comes with experience and years and years of practice, of which I have neither. So, you have to write your first draft very fast, lighting fast, ideally, without any breaks at all, well, not longer than 1 to 2 days. It shouldn't take you more than 3 months, as Stephen King advises in his ON WRITING. It took me 6 weeks to bang out 1st draft for SIREN SUICIDES, and I'm almost half-done with 1st draft for ROSEHEAD, having only started writing it 3 weeks ago. I assume it will take me 6 weeks total as well. Why? Because you charge forward on association, writing the first thing that comes to mind and excites you.

• Sock example number 1: A pair of checkered socks lay forgotten at the bottom of the drawer, when an unfamiliar hand reached for them and set them on fire (so, twist number one, who got the socks? Why fire? No clue, first thing that came to my head. What would be cool next?) But then the socks exploded because they were made of special magic exploding wool! BAM! (Whoa? Where did this come from? No idea. Have to keep moving, keep writing.) The socks themselves, instead of burning, grew into two humongous floating balloons and burst out of the house, when the unfamiliar hand reached for them and grabbed their ends, flying out into space! (Right, I thought I was writing fantasy, but this is turning into sci-fi. Fine, I have to keep moving.) A vicious rain of acid alien socks pummeled the pair, causing them to deflate and land on the Moon, which was actually a roll of wool in the jaw of a cat that represented the universe and everything. (WHOA!!! What the hell? No matter, I'll keep writing.) See what I'm doing? I keep moving no matter how crazy it sounds, because it's fun and it keeps me going.

Write out plot points and clean them up. Once you're done with Draft 1, put it away for at least 2 weeks. Don't touch it, forget it existed. Then, after 2 weeks are gone, read it all in one sitting. Again, I'm only borrowing advice from Stephen King here, it worked for me, so I'm sure it will work for you. Anyway, then, when you read it, keep a notepad next to you and write down every single little plot turn you come across, just like you write down a list of to-do's.

• Sock example number 2: A hand reached for socks. (Whose hand? Why? Why secretly?) Socks exploded. (Why? Did someone put them there on purpose? By accident? Were there more socks like these or are they one of a kind?) Exploding wool. (Who invented it? Why? Is it used in other products, like exploding sweaters? Has it been tested on ill-tempered humans?) Socks inflated. (Who did? Did they have a computer chip for it? Was it implanted by special spying sloths? Murderous hippos? Sock monkeys?) Acid alien rain was waiting for them. (Did aliens plan it? Were they enemies for years? Have they mistaken these socks for some other checkered socks?) You see the pattern I'm creating here? That's it. You write out a list of all your turns, big and little, and then start cleaning them up, weaving a logically possible story out of it.

Explain every single plot detail in Draft 2. Now comes the painful part. After you are done with Draft 1 and writing out plot points, in Draft 2 make sure you carefully explain every single plot point, to the point of wanting to vomit. Seriously, write as much of it as you can, as if you were explaining it all to your almost deaf great great grandmother. Because if she can understand what you're talking about, any other reader will understand it too.

• Sock example number 3. A pair of checkered socks lay forgotten at the bottom of the drawer, their bright pink and purple pattern barely visible in the gloom of the rest of the socks, most of them brown or black, the typical fare of a typical boring clerk working in a bank his entire life without a raise. This particular pair of socks felt particularly out of place, itching to get out, after having spent there only 1 hour, a tag still attached to them, together with a barely discernible scent of a woman's perfume. Then, without any warning, a woman's hand, long and slender, each finger encrusted with a diamond the size of a robin's egg, swiftly snaked in and snatched the pair with a pair of silver pincers...  Do I need to continue? I don't think so. You see the point. I try to over-explain every single detail.

Cut down to only necessary details in Draft 3. Bam. You did it. Now in Draft 3 simply cut out the fluff that is not needed, leaving only the things that ring true. Ask your beta readers to chime in, if you're having difficulty seeing it. Or, again, take a break for a couple weeks, and then read it all in one go.

• Sock example number 4. At the bottom of a drawer, underneath a pile of silk stockings, a pair of checkered socks lay uncomfortably, their purple microchips blinking. One minute left until explosion... I think you get the point.

Use the accordion method for the rest of the drafts. Somebody told me about this concept, I can't remember who, but the idea is that you keep expanding and shrinking your drafts until they can't expand and shrink anymore. In any case, don't do more than 10 drafts, chances are, you're overwriting it. Don't write the same novel for longer than 2 years, chances are, you've lost the spark and have to move on. Trust me, once you move on to a new novel and start the same process all over again, it will flow a 100 times smoother. I know, it does for me in ROSEHEAD.

Well, here you have it. It's the method I use, it's nothing like you would read in books on plotting. It works for me. What works for you? Got any tips or secrets to share? Please do in comments, I'm totally dying to learn.