I have been writing a fiction story and was wondering if anyone could give me a general idea of how long an average fiction story is and how many words an average book is. I am not really sure were to start with trying to find out this information so if you could give links it would help as well. Thank you for your time and answers.
2007-10-14 16:30:25 · 6 answers · asked by aaronkclark 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Here's a word count list I found in the 2008 "Guide to Literary Agents":
Up to 1000 words= short story/ flash fiction
1000-6000 words= short story
6000-15000 words= long story/ novelette
15000-45000 words= novella
45000-120000= novel (commonly between 50000 and 80000)
However, you should write the book at whatever length it needs to be, and that novel word count seems pretty low when you look at some of the books getting published today. If you have publishing in mind, some agents/publishers are wary of taking very long books from beginners. If you're writing for a younger audience, the average word count is typically shorter, too.
Still, I say write your book however you want it. If you find a publisher and they request cuts, you can deal with that as it comes.
Persiphone: I have to disagree with the hack part. I read this question again, and the asker does say "words."
2007-10-14 17:53:08 · answer #1 · answered by Roald Ellsworth 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
It depends on the genre, the page size, the text size, and the audience. If it's a childrens book, somewhere between 60-100 pages. If it's a teenager or higher book, anywhere from 200-500 pages. Fantasy stories are normally longer then sci fi, and sci fi are longer then historical fiction/realistic fiction.
2007-10-14 16:36:02 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The average story is as long as it needs to be for you to get your points across. Honestly, there's no set number of pages or anything else. A story can actually be one or a few sentences long or can be several chapters in length. It really is all up to you.
Best of luck!
Peace,
Jenn
2007-10-14 16:46:07 · answer #3 · answered by jenn_smithson 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A GOOD fiction book is at LEAST 24 chaps. long.
2007-10-14 16:34:43 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
A book is as long as it takes the author to write it.
Silly person.
2007-10-14 16:35:50 · answer #5 · answered by dellet2 3 · 0⤊ 4⤋
If you are interested in writing a novel, you might as well learn to start speaking like a novelist. Mentioning length in terms of pages or chapters is amateur and makes you sound like a hack.. Authors refer to length in words. An average novel is approximately 90 - 140 thousand words. If you want to break that down into pages, divide buy 250 words per page.
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They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.
Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.
Pax - C
2007-10-14 20:05:20 · answer #6 · answered by Persiphone_Hellecat 7 · 1⤊ 9⤋