Paper Hearts: Some Writing Advice

Word Count Doesn't Matter...Okay, Fine, It Does. Sometimes.

WHEN WORD COUNT DOESN'T MATTER, PART ONE

A few years ago, I tried NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). When you do NaNo, the idea is, you write a certain number of words per day, and at the end of the month, you have something novel-length. 

I've never successfully done NaNo. 

In my last attempt, I did well for about a week. I was getting close to 10k words. And then, on Day 5, I realized: that was the wrong 10k words.

So I deleted them all. 

Then a friend emailed me about the sudden drop in my word count. First, she advised that I put the words back. Her reasoning:

"You can still count them so you can win NaNo."

But I didn't care about winning NaNo.

Now, that said, I would like to have 50k by the end of a month. I'd love it. But I don't care about "winning."

My friend on email was still a bit shocked. "The point of NaNo is to push through doubt," she said. "Just keep writing."

Me: "But I have no doubt that those 10k words are wrong. And there's no point to keep writing on something that's not right."

Her: "But you're supposed to turn your inner editor off," she said. "And just write."

Me: "I am writing. Deleting the wrong words is part of writing."

Her: "But...now you're behind. You were ahead, and now you're behind." 

Me: "But...I'm ahead on getting the right story."

Her: "...but you're going to lose NaNo."

I was honestly a little surprised by her reaction. Is it that important to "win" NaNo? I mean--it's just a number. And it's fine if your goal is just get a certain number of words on the page. But it's better to get the right words on the page. If you're stalling, or fretting, or worrying--that's one thing. Push through that. But if you know you've gone off the wrong path, don't stay there. 

In short: do what's right for you. The zero word count after deleting the wrong words were more of a win for me than stay with ten thousand wrong words. 

WHEN WORD COUNT DOESN'T MATTER, PART TWO

When I started writing, I was very concerned about the "proper" way to write. I wanted to write a novel, but I didn't know where to start with that. Does every chapter have to be the same length? At what point should X happen? How long does the novel have to be exactly? What if it's too long or too short? 

The first novels I wrote, I wrote using Word on a Microsoft PC. I made every chapter be roughly 10 pages, give or take a few pages, because that's what seemed to be "normal." I forced my book to fit into a sort of idea of what I thought a novel was--and the entire thing felt a bit...wooden. It was forced, and it showed.

When I switched to a Mac computer, I also switched to Scrivener. I'd heard a lot about it, and decided to give it a try.

One of the first things I noticed was that Scrivener doesn't have page counts. It's has word counts. I started writing a chapter. I panicked. How many words are in ten pages? How much should I write to "equal" a chapter?

Fortunately, I'm bad at math. I found a natural rhythm for my chapters--around two thousand words long, give or take a few thousand. It's not ten pages. The chapters vary a lot. Some of my chapters are twice as long. Some of my chapters are one sentence long. But they're the right chapter length. 

Don't worry about the things like length of chapters, or scenes, or even the novel. Just write the story. Think of it like a painting--paint it on as big a canvas as you need. Find a wall to hang it on later.

WHEN WORD COUNT DOES MATTER

A marketable book for traditional publication does tend to fit into certain size categories. There are two reasons for this:

1. If a manuscript is much longer/shorter than other manuscripts in its genre, this indicates that the manuscript won't be a good fit for the audience, making it not marketable. On simplest terms, this means kids used to a 30-page picture book may not like a 400-page picture book. But adults used to a 400-page epic fantasy novel probably won't buy something a quarter of that size either. Know the audience you're trying to sell to, know the norms for your genre. 

2. If a manuscript is much longer/shorter than other manuscripts in its genre, this indicates that the manuscript hasn't been edited. It indicates a lack of craft. Your book, to be traditionally published, should fit into a book shape. If it's bloated by an extra hundred-thousand words, either you're telling more story than should be in one book, or you're rambling, or you just need to cut down. Either way, you're not done, and it's not ready for publication. 

A manuscript within the normal range of length for the genre indicates that the author knows her audience and has edited her book--two key things for an agent or publisher to see. 

For YA, typical novel lengths are:

-Contemporary novels: 50-90k words. An "issue" book that explores one topic (i.e. the way Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson explores the consequences of rape) or a romance novel with a fairly straightforward plot tends to be on the shorter end of the spectrum. Something more complicated in terms of plot, with twists and turns and surprises (such as something with a "soap-opera feel" or something more thriller/adventure/mystery) or something that requires much more setting description (such as a historical, a story that switches setting a lot, or one set in a place unfamiliar to most readers) would be on the longer side. Your typical range would be closer to 70k words, give or take 10k.

-Fantasy/science fiction novels: 70-110k words. Because you have to do a bit more world building and cannot rely on the past experiences of the reader to know what the world is like, you need more words to tell the story and describe the setting. This obviously varies a lot, depending on the complexity of the world and plot, but typical range would be about 90k words, give or take 10k.

For YA, a novel less than 50k words and greater than 110k words would be a hard sell for a debut novelist. 

As with anything, it's not so much the size that matters but what you do with it. (Insert bad-taste joke here.) If you have a very short novel that is crafted to perfection, you're gold. If you have a very long novel where every single word matters, you're gold. But even then, you will typically fall into the range of the above word counts. 

Your word count should reflect your story. A longer story or shorter story is not better, just like a tall person isn't better than a short one. Your goal is to find the right size novel for the story you're writing. If you need more words to tell the story, take them. But find the balance--find the right words and the right number of words to tell your story.