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Second book in a series - does it have to be the same length or longer?
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Katie
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Oct 25, 2012 02:35AM
I'm maybe 2000 words off writing 'The End' on my sequel, but as it stands, the book is going to be about 20000 words shorter than the first book in the series. In the rewrite, I might add another 5000 words fixing the plot-holes that I know are there, but I know I'll also cut out a lot of redundant words as well. What are your thoughts? If the first book was 95000 words and the second is only 75000, would you feel diddled? I don't want to pad it, but I don't want people to feel like it's lacking.
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i think a book should be as long as it needs to be.tbh i would expect the first book in a series to be longer cos it would usually have some scene setting and character introducing bits before it gets stuck into the story so bottom line, no i wouldn't feel cheated if word count is less.
I wouldn't feel cheated either, so long as it is as good quality writing as the first in the series (which I'm sure it is):o)
I wouldn't feel in the least diddled. I would if I felt it were padded out. ;)
Kath wrote: "i think a book should be as long as it needs to be.tbh i would expect the first book in a series to be longer cos it would usually have some scene setting and character introducing bits before it ..."
I agree with this entirely.
Ignite wrote: "I wouldn't feel in the least diddled. I would if I felt it were padded out. ;)"And I agree with this.
Well, that's good to know! Thanks everyone. I'll stop worrying about where I can find the extra words and just make sure it's the best story I can make it. :)
Patti (Migrating Coconut) wrote: "I too agree."Yes, a book that is padded out is perhaps worse than a book that is too short.
Saying that, when it is 'finished' (re-write done etc), leave it for a while and do something else. Then come back to it and sit and read it as if it was just a book you'd bought. You might find that you'd want a few extra scenes to help people understand characters and/or their motivation etc
There are kind of expectations when it comes to novel length, depending on genre and target audience, and these are definitely not to be ignored if you want to have a traditional publisher (most won't even look at adult fantasy shorter than 80k, for example). But if you're not interested in traditional publishing, you can make it any length you like.But when it comes to making something longer, look at adding new subplots and extra scenes. When you're editing, look for the conflicts, and instead of resolving them, make them worse. Your story ends when the central conflict facing your protagonist is resolved, so whatever you do, don't add a "what happens next" chapter afterwards - the story is done, closed, finished, and people will find it uncomfortable.
An interesting thing: I was watching an interview on You Tube with John Scalzi the other day, and he was asked how many paxes a particular book was, and he said 320 pages. Then he added, 'all my books are 320 pages, regardless of whether they're 80,000 words or 100,000 words, because the publisher adjusts the font to make them that way. Apparently they sell better if they all look the same size'. Food for thought...
Actually, here's the interview. It's a bit noisy since it was filmed at a live event, but he talks about book lengths quite early on.
http://youtu.be/AroLQb3Pfqc?hd=1
I wouldn't worry about the length as long as the story is good. Before Kindle came along I don't think folk paid as much attention to word count because page length could be determined by font as mentioned above. I, and others, have been put off by a hefty looking paperback. Thanks to Kindle that's no longer an issue.If the characters are real, it's well plotted and leaves the reader satisfied, nobody will care about number of words.
I agree too - a book should be as long or as short as it needs to be, no more, no less. The beauty of Kindle is that we can avoid rules that come from an era that pandered to conformity.
Tim wrote: "There are kind of expectations when it comes to novel length, depending on genre and target audience, and these are definitely not to be ignored if you want to have a traditional publisher (most wo..."I noticed a Thomas H Cook novel I read recently was a decent chunky size - but the text was wide spaced with lots of blank pages. It was evidently a much shorter text so had been 'padded' to fit a given number of pages, and I did feel miffed. Wasn't that good a novel either.
I noticed James Patterson was doing that too. Before I gave up on his stuff.
Oooh don't pad it! I reckon your story knows how long it wants to be and when you force it longer or shorter, the readers always know! I agree with Jim though - finish it, do an edit and then leave it. Either it's as long as it wants to be (and hey, we're self-published so we don't have to play by trad rules!) or you'll suddenly get a genius idea for a subplot based around a small detail you put in for no particular reason several months ago. And that's very gratifying too....
JAC
J.A. wrote: "finish it, do an edit and then leave it. Either it's as long as it wants to be (and hey, we're self-published so we don't have to play by trad rules!) or you'll suddenly get a genius idea for a subplot based around a small detail you put in for no particular reason several months ago. And that's very gratifying too...."And it is surprising how, when you re-read it, you spot gaps, or scenes that can be reworked to feed in better or how there were subplots there that you as the mere author seen to have missed!
Thanks everyone. I'm leaving it for a month while I do NaNoWriMo, so hopefully that's long enough. I'll get some others to read it, too, when I've finished, just to make sure they don't think it's missing something.
