Some famous author once said that if you can’t tell a story
in 50,000 words then you shouldn’t tell it. While I don’t totally agree with
that statement, I do agree with the sentiment it expresses. Two of the books I
started recently (won’t mention titles, but one of them is consistently in the
top 3 bestsellers on Amazon) were so padded with useless words and descriptions
that I couldn’t even finish them. As an author myself, maybe I’m more sensitive
to such things. One of them was, after all, a best seller. But that doesn’t
mean the reader got their money’s worth.
When a writer starts a new project, the publisher generally
gives them a word count goal that’s in line with their genre. If you write
sci-fi or fantasy, don’t hand in anything less than 90k words or it will be
handed back to you with red ink, stating “TOO SHORT.” This is a problem because
sometimes a story only has so much life in it before the pacing begins to
fizzle out, and adding more scenes to it will surely come off to the reader as
forced. But the publisher doesn’t care, because it’s all about the word count.
Epic fantasy needs lots of words (half of which can’t be pronounced) whereas
romance and literary fiction can get by with shorter works.
This is where indie writers and traditionally published
writers get to creatively part ways. Just as independent filmmakers can get
away with producing content directly for their fans, so also indie authors can take
advantage of their freedom and write their story without the silly limitations
imposed by a marketing group somewhere. There’s no fear of breaching your
contract in the independent publishing world, unless you’re signed to a small
pub house that’s trying to be a major one.
Personally, I don’t shoot for a lesser page count, but I’m free to write the story I think
my readers will enjoy… without any extra padding. That makes me very happy, and
it’s the reason you won’t find any fluff or extraneous scenes within my work.
Words should function in an luminary way, lighting up the world you’re creating
and moving the events that transpire through a progression until the story
culminates and no more can be said on the subject because you’ve exhausted
every interesting angle. Of course, for a series, there’s something to be said
for leaving some gas in the tank, so to speak. But even the books of a series
should be tightly written, so as to not waste the time of the reader.
You’ll notice some word count meters in the side bar of this
website. My current work-in-progress “All American Addict” is set to 50,000
words. That is what I consider the minimum amount of words to complete the
story I’ve already outlined (and finished, in screenplay form). If the book
ends up being 70,000 words, that’s okay by me… so long as every scene and
description I write moves the story forward. The Lamp was only going to be 40k
words but I kept finding interesting angles to explore and the end result was
15k words over. But I doubt there’s a single wasted word in the whole book (I’ll
let you be the judge of that!). Sometimes it’s easy to look at an outline and
know instinctively how long the book will be. That’s something that kind of
comes with experience. I’m working on only my third novel right now, so
sometimes my instincts are off. All part of learning, my friends.
