tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597446736200108024.post8533571145767589197..comments2024-03-09T00:15:37.661-08:00Comments on Navigating the Slush Pile: Word CountVickie Motterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15791034462866079818noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597446736200108024.post-83880276679599971782012-01-19T11:33:17.832-08:002012-01-19T11:33:17.832-08:00Lots of great books up there. The Faeries of Dream...Lots of great books up there. The Faeries of Dreamdark by Laini Taylor are fantastic MG books- good for boys or girls. <br /><a href="http://www.statedivorce.com/divorce-forms/" rel="nofollow">divorce papers</a>wandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07637387929894185166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597446736200108024.post-14189256326169973422011-11-01T09:36:01.775-07:002011-11-01T09:36:01.775-07:00I'm fairly sure that such short word counts re...I'm fairly sure that such short word counts receive bad reactions from unpublished authors due to the high extents that said authors commonly <i>read</i>. As an unpublished SF author (polished and edited manuscript sitting at 135K), I would be most interested to read a blog entry on the discrepancy between length as read and length as written.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597446736200108024.post-70542125997290643602011-09-16T11:13:26.172-07:002011-09-16T11:13:26.172-07:00Thanks for the post. I linked it in my interestin...Thanks for the post. I linked it in my interesting links.<br /><br />One side comment though...<br /><br />Are you aware your links show as plain text unless hovered over? It makes it hard to tell there is a link rather than that you forgot to link it. Just thought you might want to know.Margaret M. Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00537558539259791284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597446736200108024.post-36201361601513405262011-09-15T14:46:30.202-07:002011-09-15T14:46:30.202-07:00I agree with Scott about too many people today rea...I agree with Scott about too many people today reacting negatively to supersized books. I love reading and writing extremely long books and think too many books nowadays are just too short. Now I no longer worry about "word count" issues and just write and edit my books as I see fit. If you're writing historical sagas that are deliberately planned to span many years, contain many characters and subplots, and with a large story arc, you kind of can't fit all that in within only 300 pages. If you did cut out hundreds of pages just to please modern mainstream tastes, it wouldn't be the same story anymore. I think it's sad so many modern people have forgotten how satisfying it is to climb into a huge book and live there for a few weeks, as opposed to being able to read something all of 300 pages long in a few hours.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597446736200108024.post-85085480583896327702011-09-11T09:50:37.893-07:002011-09-11T09:50:37.893-07:00The best bit of advise I have ever gotten about wo...The best bit of advise I have ever gotten about word count was from a seminar for new writers: <br /><br />* Go to a book store. <br />*Find several novels that you think your story should be classified with. <br />*Look at how many pages it has and what size the print is. The average is 250-350 words per page. <br />*Match your final MS to that and you will get your foot in more doors.Rebecca Gillanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01341836304924085727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597446736200108024.post-88682274662393661252011-09-10T23:45:28.021-07:002011-09-10T23:45:28.021-07:00I think something writers don't keep in mind i...I think something writers don't keep in mind is that you could be querying an 80k novel, find an agent, and then after all the rounds of revision, it could become a 50k novel. What we see on the bookshelves is a finished product, and while some word counts don't change, many do. So while there are a lot of great books that are outside of some word count guidelines (Twilight, Wake), we can't be sure how far off they were before publication. It's a whole new ball game after you get an agent!Jessica Silvahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405267450788581689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597446736200108024.post-33658388990877045182011-09-09T09:45:09.852-07:002011-09-09T09:45:09.852-07:00I think word counts should be a guideline and not ...I think word counts should be a guideline and not set in stone.<br /><br />Lisa McMann's Wake series has a seriously low word count, the first one was approx. 42,000 words, but the story was tight and really held up all the way through.Marsha Sigmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11095210839900479297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597446736200108024.post-80825983247314841052011-09-09T05:55:22.796-07:002011-09-09T05:55:22.796-07:00I really dislike the whole Word Count philosophica...I really dislike the whole Word Count philosophical jargon. The story is either good or it's not. I think that there are fewer GREAT books of depth written today because writers are worried more about word count than the phycological underpinnings of the characters and concepts they represent.<br /><br />Based off of Word Count, many of the GREAT novels throughout history would have never been published. Yes...I know we live in a much faster age with too many distractions, but I believe the only good that comes from Word Count is that it forces the Author the rethink what is truly important in considering what is crucial to both character and story arch.<br /><br />Perhaps I'm saying this because I've spent so many years crafting my world and characters; but when I know this is the first of what I plan to be a seven novel series, there are a lot of seeds to plant so the tree can spread out in all of the right directions.<br /><br />To date, I have cut approximately 80,000 words from my manuscript--yeah, scary. But it's stronger for it.Scott Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01241602926507617573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597446736200108024.post-67027205046343316052011-09-09T04:58:07.730-07:002011-09-09T04:58:07.730-07:00Well this makes me feel much better about my 70k f...Well this makes me feel much better about my 70k first drafts! Thank you!Paul Anthony Shortthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14393249001158230985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597446736200108024.post-58286616707216262262011-09-08T20:46:41.980-07:002011-09-08T20:46:41.980-07:00I love that you love long stories. :)I love that you love long stories. :)Katy Uppermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07725740174190514869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597446736200108024.post-9262958087827128972011-09-08T16:48:08.152-07:002011-09-08T16:48:08.152-07:00Nice handy list. LOve bullet points:) They make li...Nice handy list. LOve bullet points:) They make life a little easier.Martha Ramirezhttp://www.martzbookz.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597446736200108024.post-26896121954543416982011-09-08T12:13:52.679-07:002011-09-08T12:13:52.679-07:00That's great advice! I love hearing what agen...That's great advice! I love hearing what agents think about word-length. And I like that you have your own opinion about YA. I've heard a couple of times that YA of any genre/subgenre should be 80k max. And even more than 70k is pushing it.Giles Hashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10772067878017549159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597446736200108024.post-23476560933874946462011-09-08T11:38:13.718-07:002011-09-08T11:38:13.718-07:00Thanks for the bullet-points, very helpful!Thanks for the bullet-points, very helpful!Jennifer Pickrellhttp://jenniferpickrell.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com