I find myself at the
moment in the midst of writing the next novel in the Charlie Fox series. The
action for this book starts directly where the last instalment – the novella
ABSENCE OF LIGHT – left off. At the start of this next one, Charlie even still
carries the injuries she sustained during the course of A.O.L.’s storyline.
The previous
full-length novel – DIE EASY – was number 10 in the series. Now I’m faced with
the question of do I call this latest book number 11 or 12?
ABSENCE OF LIGHT could
rightfully be called book 11, although labelling it as a novella was a
deliberate decision on my part. It finished up at almost 60,000 words, which
would make it a novel to many. But, the other Charlie Fox books ranged between
92,000 and 128,000 and I didn’t want anyone to be disappointed to suddenly find
this one shorter.
As far as I know,
nobody’s complained that it’s longer than they expected.
I’m a great believer
in writing to the end of the story, then making at least one pass through to
see how many extraneous words I can cut out. I’ve usually aimed roughly for
100,000 +/-10%, but I know some crime authors who rarely write past 50,000, and
others who do at least 130,000 every time.
Equally, I’ve come
across readers who are put off by weighty tomes, and others who, if they’re
stuck between a choice of two books for a holiday read, will measure the width
of the spine and go for the thickest.
Personally, if I’m enjoying
being immersed in the world the writer has created, the more of it the better.
Especially now I tend to do a lot more reading in digital format. It’s easier
on the hands and – if I’m reading last thing at night – I know if I nod off
with the ebook in my hands the device will eventually just switch itself off.
There are no end of times I’ve fallen asleep reading a paper book and lost my
place as it’s slipped from my hands.
But, there are general guidelines on the length of various different types of fiction, and I suppose it’s as well to know what the rules are before you decide to break them.
Of course, when I say
‘general guidelines’ these do vary enormously. Some have the length of a novel
starting from as little as 40,000 words. Others specify a mystery novel as
60,000-80,000, with thrillers up to 100,000.
Below a novel comes
the novella at 17,500-40,000; the novelette at 7,500-17,500; and anything below
7,500 counting as a short story.
Or does it?
The digital publishing
revolution has caused a mix-up. When Kindle introduced their Kindle Single,
they specified a work of fiction with a word count between 5,000 and 30,000,
straddling short story/novelette/novella territory.
New writers who go
straight into the indie market tend to want to build up their bookshelf space
as quickly as possible, and there can be a tendency to put out several
novelettes or novellas rather than a full-length novel. One just has to be
aware of the old ‘quality before quantity’ maxim, but I can well understand the
pressure to be more successful simply by publishing more work.
If a new writer is
going down the traditional route into publishing, many agents and publishers
prefer that their work falls into generally accepted word counts for the market
they wish to enter. There’s nothing to say a debut crime novel of 150,000 words
will fail to find a publisher purely because of its length, but busy editors do
look for the obvious ways first to trim down their reading list, and cutting
out a submission simply because it is too big is a danger, no matter how
brilliant it might be.
So, I find myself left
with more questions than answers. Does the length of a book have any effect on
your reading choices? Are you reading longer or shorter books than you used to,
or has there been no change?
Has the way you read
changed the length of books you go for? Do you tend to read longer books in
digital format because they’re lighter and easier to carry around with you for
that spare five minutes in the dentist’s waiting room?
Do you read more short
stories than you used to, purely because they’re now available more widely on
line rather than in anthologies? Do you yearn for a return to more regulated
sizes of novel, or do the new freedoms inspire you to try new works of varying
lengths by your favourite authors?
This week’s Word of
the Week is prolegomenon, meaning a
preface to a longer work, usually a formal essay or critical discussion. The
plural is prolegomena. It comes from
the Greek verb prolegein, meaning ‘to
say beforehand’.
