Completed Novel
So, I've finished the second draft of my horror novel after more or less completely rewriting it from scratch and it's come in at a hefty 108k words with a possible sequel left open. There's a big thanks to ABCtalers who helped and encouraged me with this, especially to RJF.
This too long for a first novel? I've googled this and got various answers. Some people say 90k is about write, but it would be really difficult to drop 20k words.
On rewrites - how many times do published people on here rewrite their novel? I don't think I can face doing it a third time! Is there a way of working out how many pages a novel of this size would be when published? It's taken me 6 months to get this far, isolating myself a lot and cramming in writing at lunch times at work. Feels great to get so far - bigger buzz than when I hit my first 50k on the first draft.
Kevin
Grover,
You clever old stick. Very many congratulations. I wouldn't presume to give you advice, but encouragement comes aplenty. Well done! Good luck with it too!
Moya
Passing the 100k word mark is a huge milestone. Fantastic achievement! I'll buy it when it comes out. In terms of length for a debut work I really don't know but I don't think that there is any hard and fast rule grover. -50k is counted as Novela +70k is counted as a novel, between those two marks is a bit of a grey area but you're well into novel territory at +100k. Well done.
Congrats Grover! That's a huge achievement. Especially that you've gone through it twice!
Page length depends on the trim size of the finished book - depending on how large the book is, you'll get a different page length. But a good rule of thumb is you'll probably get around 350 words on a typical paperback, so divide 108k by that and you end up with 308 pages, then add about 14 for prelims and end pages and you're at 322. All books have to be divisible by 16 (printer regs) so your book would end up being around 320 pages. Long, sure, but not excessive.
I don't think more edits can ever hurt. When you're really, really, done, you should be able to read through front cover to back and not feel the urge to change anything. Then again, can any writer ever do that with their own work? Hard to say. Sounds like you're at the point where it's worth sending the ms out to a few trusted friends to get some feedback!
Thanks, Moya and Scratch!
Thanks, Luke - I think 320 pages is okay then. I was panicing that 108k would mean a massive 600 page book... I might even be able to add a few extra scenes then!
Yeah, I'm just about ready to send it for a Beta read - I've already sent it to RJF. Any other vounteers I'd happily email out a copy though it is very dark in places. I'm taking a little break from reading it so I can go from a fresh eye. I'm worried that I've written 108k of rubbish but it's hard to be impartial with your own creation. Who really hates their own children?
Hey, just thinking out loud but if we do another chat-room critique session that would be a good opportunity for you to use it as a sounding board?
Grover, fantastic acheivement. I wouldn't worry about the length, 100k+
is fine. It's a PROPER novel at that length. Cant wait to read it, let me know when its out. Are you going self-published or trying with Literary agents?
Scratch, yeah, I'd be up for that.
Jolono, I'm going to try the literary agent route. I'm too lazy for self promotion, etc. In the time it takes to go down the agent route, I'd be nearly finished the sequel!
Congrats Grover on finishing your novel, I take it you finished it once then set out again and effectively rewrote it.
I know what you mean about not being able to face another rewrite, however I see no reason you should, my first novel, a murder thriller, runs to about 120k, and I shall have a re-edit, after some very good feedback from agents, basically I have made the beginners mistake of overwriting, in fact it was finished about 3 years ago now, and I have written three other factual books since.
Firstly having looked at it again I shall cull at least 30k words perhaps more, but also add a couple of new chapters to expalin some actions taken by a couple of the characters, if you have a follow up novel I suggest you start that, and then come back to your first if the feedback from agents suggests some changes, 108k words is okay.
In UK, going through agents is the only option, I take it you don't have a copy of the writers an Artists yearbook as your constant companion, you should, it is invaluable, people like Sir Terry Pratchett and other top industry insiders are contributors.
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk
The first thing though is to invest in some independant editing, you only need the first 14,000 words at most, (30 pages or so) doing, but it should be perfact punctuation and grammar in that part, so fivesquids should help you out, your mistake in this posting (90k is about write) and should be right, very easy to do, would mean the agent would stop reading and turn to the next of their other 100+ submissions this week on the slush pile.
http://www.fivesquids.co.uk/categories/writing
I edit my books endlessly as I go along, the earlier parts have been re-written at least twenty times, and my first published book, which is a history of Medievel England from 410ad to 1050, I re-edited 5 times, before withdrawing to have a complete independent re-edit paid for by the sales.
My tip for better writing is continually to read the greats and not so greats in literature, the more you read the better your writing will be.
Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes, Juvenal, "Who will guard the guardians"
Thanks for the tips, Ashcan - I've an old copy of the artists yearbook but I'll get an upto date copy now I'm actually writing novels. I'm trying not to look at the second draft for a couple of weeks so I can approach with a fresh eye - there's already a couple of sentences I've seen on a flick through that made me cringe!