Length of Sword & Sorcery books

[Steven]

Have you ever ridden a roller coaster that was barely a minute or two long?

And when you got to the end, did you say, "Wow, I want to go again!" and get right back in line?

Bare with me as I explain what I mean...

My first book Ohlen's Arrow was 64,000 words. The second book in the series Ohlen's Bane was 65,000 words. I'm writing the third in the series, Paragon's Call, and it will likely be close to 100k. I've published the first two as ebooks only, and will publish the third as an ebook, but when it's done, I'll combine all three into a single paperback volume called The Taesian Chronicles. I have a reason for this approach.

Like others, I prefer shorter books with a lot of action and little waste. I'd rather read a series of three books 60k each than a single book that's 180k.

I'm releasing all three in a single volume to satisfy those who prefer single, longer books. Or they can buy them a la carte (the price of the combined book will be equivalent to the sum of the individual books if purchased separately). The only -long- S&S book I've read was Mists of Avalon and I hated it; the plot was great, the length was torture. I guess I just don't have the attention span for works that long.

[Andy]

Steven wrote: "Have you ever ridden a roller coaster that was barely a minute or two long?

And when you got to the end, did you say, "Wow, I want to go again!" and get right back in line?

Bare with me as I expl..."

You used the term 'Short Book', not'Novella' (God, I detest that non-word), so I like you already.

[Steven]

You used the term 'Short Book', not'Novella' (God, I detest that non-word)

Then I may not be the only one that thinks "Novella" means "Spanish novel"

[Andy]

Steven wrote: "You used the term 'Short Book', not'Novella' (God, I detest that non-word)

Then I may not be the only one that thinks "Novella" means "Spanish novel""

Novella means 'new' in Italian. Nothing to do with literature.
:)

[Steven]

Andy wrote: "Steven wrote: "You used the term 'Short Book', not'Novella' (God, I detest that non-word)

Then I may not be the only one that thinks "Novella" means "Spanish novel""

Novella means 'new' in Italia..."

Let's just hope no one uses the term "bookette"

[S.wagenaar]

I thought Novella in English refers to a fictional story longer than a short story, but shorter than a novel...no?

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

I think it's one of those terms (along with novelette) that's used primarily by fiction magazines and in the Hugo nomination process. Just a way to chonk up stories by word count into small, medium, large and novel. (Although even there, I think the lower limit for "novel" is 40,000 words, which is miniscule by modern standards.)

[Andy]

Joseph wrote: "I think it's one of those terms (along with novelette) that's used primarily by fiction magazines and in the Hugo nomination process. Just a way to chonk up stories by word count into small, medium..."

40k words? I think that is the average length of an RR Martin foreword, isn't it?
:)

[Mary]

Joseph wrote: "Although even there, I think the lower limit for "novel" is 40,000 words, which is miniscule by modern standards.."

Once upon a time, that was within normal range. How-to-write books said to aim for 60,000 as the usual length.

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Mary wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Although even there, I think the lower limit for "novel" is 40,000 words, which is miniscule by modern standards.."

Once upon a time, that was within normal range. How-to-write book..."

Yeah, it's kind of amazing sometimes when I sit down with, e.g., A Princess of Marsand see how short it is compared to oh, I don't know, Memories of Ice or some such.

Which isn't to say that both don't have their pluses and minuses.

[Steven]

I think a good book is, regardless of actual length, just slightly shorter than you want it to be.

[Andy]

Steven wrote: "I think a good book is, regardless of actual length, just slightly shorter than you want it to be."

So true.

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Andy wrote: "Steven wrote: "I think a good book is, regardless of actual length, just slightly shorter than you want it to be."

So true."

Of just about everything in life, come to think of it.

[Steven]

Joseph wrote: "Andy wrote: "Steven wrote: "I think a good book is, regardless of actual length, just slightly shorter than you want it to be."

So true."

Of just about everything in life, come to think of it."

As an author, you want to leave just enough mystery at the end of a chapter to make the reader want to read the next to find out what happens. And, if your book is in a series, you want to leave the reader wanting just enough to read the next book (but not so much they feel cheated).

I don't think actual length really has anything to do with it, frankly.

[Arley]

Steven wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Andy wrote: "Steven wrote: "I think a good book is, regardless of actual length, just slightly shorter than you want it to be."

So true."

Of just about everything in life, come to ..."
I agree. I've had good results leaving the end of my books as a bit of a cliff hanger. As far as length is concerned, it seems to be more a matter of strong editing than a hard and fast rule about word count. Stephen King writes books that move along fairly well despite being longer than the dictionary. That being said, I hope to make my first sword and sorcery novel come out between 70 and 80k (as opposed to the 120-140 my westerns have been) with character development happening as the action progresses rather than with flashbacks and introspection. All due respect to Elric and Drizzt, I want the reader to know my characters by what they do, and not how they feel. Doing it this way should put me well below the 100k mark, and still provide the consumer with a good value at $2.99.

[Steven]

Arley wrote: "I hope to make my first sword and sorcery novel come out between 70 and 80k (as opposed to the 120-140 my westerns have been) with character development happening as the action progresses rather than with flashbacks and introspection. All due respect to Elric and Drizzt, I want the reader to know my characters by what they do, and not how they feel."

It sounds like you have a great approach, Arley, one that I agree with wholeheartedly.

[Arley]

I'll let you know how it comes out.

[Andy]

Arley wrote: "I'll let you know how it comes out."

You sound like me. Never happens, aim for 100k and always miss by at least 20k. 128k is my shortest, I think?
Likewise predicting the date of publication.... now I only allude, in vague terms, to a possible season of the year. "There may be leaves on the trees, or maybe not."

Interesting you wrote westerns. I always wanted to write a Louis L'amour type western.

[Rick]

I believe the trend will gravitate toward quick, pithy reads-- S & S especially. I am comfortable up to about 100-125,000 words, but encyclopedia-sizes series rarely get my attention.

[Mary]

The bright side is that e-books make works of 3-50,000 or so publishable. It's caused me to pull a few works off the back-burner.

[Phil]

Rick wrote: "I believe the trend will gravitate toward quick, pithy reads-- S & S especially. I am comfortable up to about 100-125,000 words, but encyclopedia-sizes series rarely get my attention."
I've always considered S&S as fundamentally a short form - though 'Grimdark', currently a hot topic of discussion seems to straddle both long and short, particularly since the advent of the webzine of the same name. Perhaps an argument that it's not exactly S&S nor epic fantasy?

[Steven]

My first two novels were ~ 68k in rough draft and got edited down to about 64k each. My third came out at 104k in rough draft, but after speaking with my editor, I'll actually be adding another 5k or so before moving on to the editing phase (where we may strip 1-2k). My edited manuscripts tend to be slightly shorter than my rough drafts.

[Martin]

My favorite length is in the 20k to 100k range. Enough space to make it a real story, but still a length at which you can tell one story properly instead of having multiple stories interwoven with each other.