Book lengths

[Pmsingtiger]

I’ve been wondering book lengths and when it seems best to make two books or keep it as one book. Do you determine it by the length of the book? Example - you get to 60k and know you have another 60k to complete the story so you will espérate it into two books? Do you keep it as one book even if it gets to 200k? 

[Graeme]

I would only worry about breaking a story into multiple books if the size is excessive. By that, I mean over 300K or 400K words.

 

However, you also need to consider the plot. If the plot doesn't allow for a reasonable point to break the story, then don't. A book should have a start, middle, climax and a conclusion. It's the climax part that can be a challenge. If there's not a way to have a climax and conclusion without an excessive number of loose ends, then breaking the story into multiple books isn't going to work.

 

Breaking the story into multiple books will work, though, if you have a sufficiently climatic point to do so. For example, using a fantasy theme, the first book could be the outcast prince finding and rescuing his true love. That book can end with the rescue, but he's still an outcast. The second book can then be addressing why he's an outcast (such as the evil step-dad who has taken over the kingdom and exiled the prince). Again, it needs a sufficient climax and conclusion (such as forcing the evil step-dad to flee and the prince takes his rightful place on the throne). A third book could then be dealing with the evil step-dad raising armies to take back "his" kingdom.

 

As you can see, each book is a story in it's own right, with it's own conclusion. Each, however, is set in a bigger universe with an overarching flow of events. If you can't find the individual stories inside that flow of events, breakinvg the big story into multiple books (stories) isn't going to be a great success. You can still do it but the readers will feel that something is wrong.

 

Having said all of that, I know of various authors that end a book on a cliffhanger. That always annoys me, but it's also a legitimate way to link the books together into a bigger story...

[Pmsingtiger]

56 minutes ago, Graeme said:

Having said all of that, I know of various authors that end a book on a cliffhanger. That always annoys me, but it's also a legitimate way to link the books together into a bigger story...

Yeah I’ve been known to do that and I want avoid doing it if I can but also I don’t like stretching on a book when the plot point is changing and a new point is coming up for the main characters.

I like how you said to finish a plot for the character but maybe not all the lose ends so that they can be addressed in the sequel 

[Brayon]

I think @Graeme said it best. The only thing I would add is to listen to your instinct about what to do. I've found that helps when you want to break things apart, or if you shouldn't.

[Cia]

A large part of what you're talking about depends on audience and genre as well. Free fiction? As long as you're posting most readers won't care (see the millions upon millions of words "stories" on GA) but most published stories are never ever more than 120k and those are typically within the scifi or fantasy or paranormal genres where you need the greater lengths in order to create adequate worldbuilding. Contemporary stories tend to be more traditional lengths. 

 

And, what I've found is that most people want to know if you are creating a series or if stories are standalone. I've read a TON of eBook reviews lately that include 'if this is going to be the start of a series then… but if it isn't then...' so authors really do need to know what they're planning to do with a manuscript beforehand and if they plan to serialize the storyline and character(s) into something longer and more complete so they can leave some stuff untold for later or they need to really ensure the standalone story has everything @Graeme mentioned. 

[Myr]

Online is weird on this.  We have an author who has chapters that are Novel-length.  His last chapter was 75,000 words!!! I've been trying to get him to post shorter chapters more often for 16 years for all the good it has done. lol.

 

I frequently read FanFiction stories to get away from stuff and I'll be honest, I don't even look at stories that are less than 50,000 words.  So, setting a story length varies wildly by taste.  @Cia is spot on though with the published versus free side.  And I agree with her... have a plan.  I've written myself into corners and tiggered rewrites for freeforming it too much.

[quokka]

As some will know, I have just finished a story, and had numerous requests for more....

should I keep going, or should I start as a second book ?

[grahamsealby]

Recently, I started to read a novel and to my dismay, each paragraph ran to about two pages. To the reader, it appeared as a mess of words. Manfully, I tried to carry on, but in the end, I just gave up. It's a pity because I thought the story good.

[Jdonley75]

On 8/30/2018 at 4:59 AM, quokka said:

As some will know, I have just finished a story, and had numerous requests for more....

should I keep going, or should I start as a second book ?

In my opinion, it's up to you and your characters if there is another story to tell or not.

 

Maybe there is, maybe there isn't.  Everyone wants a sequel and then sometimes it works (Star Trek II) and sometimes it doesn't (Highlander II).

 

The story I'm writing now is going to be one story and then that's it and I'll be moving onto something new.  I'm glad the readers like what they see so far, but once it's over, it's over.

[Thorn Wilde]

I tend to struggle with turning my books into full novels. I usually end up with novellas. Or, I say usually, but my novels are almost always very short, rarely more than 60k. Though the one I'm working on currently, Storms, is looking like it'll end up over 100k, which is a very new thing for me...