blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
“My story’s finished, but it’s way too short for its category. What do I do now?”
Some writers have never experienced that particular brand of panic. They might well know the tremors that come from needing to slash 40,000 words from their epic novel that wasn’t supposed to be epic. But other writers well understand what it feels like to sense that they’ve come to the end of what they wanted to say in their memoir, or how the novel played out in their mind, or covered all the points they meant to address in their nonfiction book. The End. Great! But the recommended word count for their genre is far higher than what their computer screen tells them. Now what?
“Is it okay?” the writer asks. “My story ends too soon. How much wiggle room can I have? The guidelines say 80,000. I’m at 49,302. Close enough?”
No. And that’s not an arbitrary pronouncement. Much thought goes into word count guidelines for contests, contracts, and even when an author self-publishes.
Suggested word counts are based on many factors. Here are a few:
- Reader expectations. Readers have come to expect a certain rhythm to the time they invest in a book of a given genre. A novella will be a quick read–shorter word count. A nonfiction personal development book will grow wearisome if the author belabors his or her points for 800 pages. Five Quick Tips for Boosting Your Productivity will not get the readership it hopes for if it isn’t quick reading. But a fiction reader does love to linger in an historical world for a while, which is why some historical novels push close to the 100,000 word mark than contemporary fiction does.
- Shelf-ease. Imagine yourself perusing a bookstore, looking for something to catch your eye and beg, “Read me!” You note that most of the books in the fiction section are spine-out, and about the same trim size–roughly 5″ x 8″, 5.5″ x 8.5″, or 6″ x 9″. And they’re all roughly 3/4″-1.5″ thick. But there’s one among them that catches your eye, and not in a good way. It’s so thin, you can’t read the spine. It’s so tall, it’s bent over at the top on the bookshelf. It will seem out of place, and either less significant or not worth the price. On the shelf is another book that stands out. It’s four inches thick. FOUR inches. It’s taking up the space of three other novels that can’t find room. It costs three times the price of the others (see the next point), and will be a sure way to irritate your chiropractor if you try to carry it in our purse or backpack. Word count matters.
- Cost of production. Imagine the shipping cost increase to ship 25 copies of an 800-page book. The cost of editing, printing, warehousing, shipping, and every other element of publication is higher with an extremely long book, but doesn’t shrink proportionately with a thin book. Even if the publisher can cut some costs for the thinner book and charge readers less, it means both publisher and author will also make less money. Publishing houses have their reasons for caring about word count.
But the question was, “What do I do? My story ends too soon! But it feels like the story’s done.”
How can a writer increase their word count significantly without “faking it” or making the story seem falsely padded with quilt batting?
Did you search carefully for loose ends?
Did you introduce a character, start to develop that character’s persona and relevance to the story, then drop him like yesterday’s yogurt? Sometimes a character appears in several scenes, but then seems no long necessary to the story, so the author is even away of having let him or her sneak off stage. If a character enters the book with a dilemma, it needs to be resolved by the end of the book.
Did you rush the ending?
Many times an author grows weary of the unfolding and ends a book too quickly, rushing through what might naturally take several chapters to develop. Readers can tell when a story ends too soon or abruptly.
Are all the senses represented?
Sight is the easy go-to sense. Sounds run a close second. But you may find ways to add not just words but sentences or concepts to your too-short book if you look for places that are lacking the elements of taste, smell, touch.
Is the emotional connection deep enough?
Did you try to tell the story without letting the emotions (of both character and readers) have room to breathe? If the main character is grieving, was it over within a week? Then that may be a place that begs for further development.
If your story ends too soon, take a look at the subplots you’ve included. Are they necessary? Do they serve their purpose well? And are they cheated of their opportunity to have an impact on the main plot of the story? Were they a teaser only and never developed? Is there more you can do to flesh out a subplot that enhances, enriches, or adds excitement to the main plot?
Have you told what needed to be shown?
It often takes more words to show what’s happening or what’s felt than it does to tell it. Telling has its place, but readers feel more engaged with the story if they are invited on the journey (becoming part of the scenes or becoming the character) rather than hearing a report of the character’s journey. As you go back through your “completed” but too-short book, watch for places where you took an unnecessary shortcut by telling.
The SEO guide may say this blog post did the opposite of ending too soon. If it’s been helpful, let us know. And stay tuned for a future blog post that addresses the book that’s carrying around excess poundage.
There’s that magic 80,000 word count target again—and my novel is hovering around 75,000. Thanks for these suggestions for fleshing it out. Is it unreasonable to hope that when I get a developmental edit next month my editor will find more “expansion points”? Or would I be better off working to hand her something that needs trimming?
Karen, is this a publisher’s in-house developmental editor or one you’re hiring? If it’s a publishing house editor, your contract likely states within what percentage your final word count can lie. It might be plus or minus ten percent or fifteen percent of their recommended length. If it’s a developmental editor you’re paying for, you do have room to ask her suggestions for expansion points, although that may then cost you a little more to have her take a look at those areas when you’ve done that requested expansion. Seventy-five thousand is so close. Don’t think of it as needing to add anything major. You may only need a couple hundred words per chapter to nudge you closer to your goal.
When I sensed this—the word count running short—happening in one of my novels as I wrote it, I realized I hadn’t really added much backstory in for the four main characters. So I used the “sagging middle” to trickle in some backstory, a little in several chapters. The word count expanded to the correct range. When I went back through it to edit on multiple passes, the backstory seemed about right: never too much in one place, and helped to flesh out the characters.
Great success story, David!
Cynthia, thank you for putting so much information into such a logical, concise post. I’m saving this to my files. I know the day will come and I can scan for ideas!
Thanks for your kind words, Heidi!
Thanks so much for your helpful advice, Cynthia! I seem to have the opposite problem and have to figure out what to cut to shorten the story. I’m a detailed person and sometimes add too much. I’m working on writing tighter and more concise.
That’s the next blog post when it’s my turn. 🙂
Great! I’ll look forward to it.
Ha ha! This is never my problem! Great suggestions though. Sadly, I tend to add words when I revise, as many as 10,000. So I try to outline so that I will be at least 10,000 words short. They just sort of appear as I edit and revise. I’m looking forward to your blog about making a long manuscript shorter though. I once cut 33,000 words from a YA manuscript, only to add 20,000 new words while I was cutting. Argh!
Not an uncommon dilemma, Kristen! 🙂
I love this, Cynthia. I will probably never be accused of underwriting. But I have missed opportunities to connect a moment to a deeper meaning, to the heart of my character. I appreciate having a crit group for that reason, and even my family who brainstorm with me through this quarantine time, helping me realize heart-connections, connect the dots, where I might have missed one.
And sometimes it’s just one, isn’t it? We’re careful, but as the author, those characters are “alive” and we assume things that the reader doesn’t know, or we envision their outcome and neglect to show that to the reader. It’s heartening to see a positive story of the quarantine time aiding your writing approach.
Cynthia, I only had this problem once . . . when I thought I was going to try to publish with a category romance, and then I realized my story didn’t work for their line. I ended up adding in a subplot, which was a lot of work, but it was also kind of fun to develop a new character’s story and weave it in.
I appreciate your other suggestions. Those are great considerations as we’re wrapping up a story to submit.
What a fun way to solve the problem!
The story’s ending far too soon;
there should be some more pages.
I think the author’s gone macnoon;
this was one for the ages.
The characters had miles to go,
and so much more to do;
must the writer stop the flow?
Is it really through?
What could he have been thinking
when he laid down his pen?
Had he perhaps been winking
at some economy of Zen?
Please, dear God, it’s not too late;
write more, push back my sell-by date!
‘macnoon’ means ‘crazy’ in certain Arabic dialects.
Learn something new every day. I thought macnoon meant the fast food version of noon. 🙂
This is so very helpful. I very often, and at times not often enough, used too many of one significant type of words whether in showing vs telling or in trying to express too much instead of giving the reader the benefit of intelligence, but other areas-not to much! ; )
Seriously though, this was great info. Just the right amount without being too much. I will keep this post close at hand for a long time.
Thanks, Susan!
Good stuff. I’m in the process of adding 25,000 words to my manuscript and found this helpful. Thank you!
So grateful, Kelly!
As someone who tends to underwrite, I appreciated your tips in this post so much. I’m envious of writers who need to trim their word count when I’m struggling to lengthen mine. And I’ve been told sprinkling twenty thousand adverbs throughout the manuscript is usually frowned upon 😉
You made me laugh! Yes, 20,000 adverbs or adjectives would be…uh…not appreciated!
Thank you for this information. I loved your illustration during “She Writes for Him” where you had us picture a bookstore shelf with a book extremely thin or a book on the epic side. I’m a visual learner so that hit the spot for me.
I write non-fiction. Is the industry standard still 70,000 – 80,000 words? What is the expected word count for a bible study?
Nonfiction is far closer to 40,000-55,000 for most projects. Word counts for Bible studies are in a class by themselves since there’s usually ample space for filling in the blanks or reflection, which would reduce that word count. It’s not solid text. But a publishing house that publishes Bible studies will have guidelines on their website for their specific needs.
Thank you. That is helpful.
Cynthia, thank you for elaborating on the question I asked. This helps so much. These are all great points and I see where I can beef up my book with some of these techniques.
Cynthia, this was so timely for me! I have a “novel” that is, right now, pushing 40K words. I sent it to a beta reader, who loves the story. But, I feel like it’s more of the skeleton of the story. The main thematic elements are there, but I need to put some flesh, internal organs, and soul into it. You’ve touched on some tools I can use to accomplish that.
This novel has been eating me alive for more than a year, simmering on the stove while I work on the one to come out next. If I had to name a story that, if I could only write one more (and BTW, have only published three-and they aren’t novels!), this would be the one I have to publish.
So, thank you!
Deb
Excellent and informative article! I’ve been working on a book since 2005, getting closer to pulling it all together and these are things to think about even though I don’t think my book will be “too short”!