Category: Word Counts

The Publishing Process, Word Counts, Writing Advice

More Word Counts by Kathryn Evans

Kathryn Evans
wordcount
Word Counts!

The post with the most hits on my website BY FAR  is ‘Word Counts’.  Clearly, we writers are a bit obsessed with counting them there words. . Funny that, how numbers occupy so much  of our brains. I think three deep concerns are the drivers for this:

  • Trying to ensure we’re a good fit for our genre
  • Not wanting to leave ANY excuse for rejection
  • Desperately wanting to know ‘Are we nearly there yet?’

Given that’s it’s such an interesting topic, I thought I’d dust off that old post and update it a bit…. Continue reading “More Word Counts by Kathryn Evans” →

The Publishing Process, Word Counts, Writing Advice

A Guide To Word Counts – 14+ ( that’s not the guide, that’s the target age)

Kathryn Evans

I am fast approaching the end of the final edit of my current manuscript which, obviously, is turning me into a gibbering wreck.

Is it too mad? Have I moved too much towards humour and too far from the original dark idea? Can I really keep chopping all these words out and still have a book?

And there it is.

The WORD COUNT issue.

It was 60,000 words. Then it was 56,000 words. Now I’m at  55,000  and dropping. Panic is setting in. So it’s time for one of these – a Word Count Blog, where I can justify poring over the word counts of other books and comparing them to mine. Want to play?

There is No Dog – Meg Rossoff – 56118

The Knife That Killed Me- Anthony Mcgowan – 45422

Almost True – Keren David – 94254

1984 – George Orwell – 88942

The Amber Spy Glass – Phillip Pillman – 156664

Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging – Louise Rennison – 41958

Before I Die – Jenny Downham – 69548

Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens – 155960

The Selfish Giant – Oscar Wilde – 1642

Withering Tights – Louise Rennison 55170

My extensive research reveals that as long as I hit the narrow window between 1642 and 156664 words, I should be fine.

Fun isn’t it?  Now go on, ask me another.

PS Here’s some I prepared earlier: https://viviennekathrynevans.wordpress.com/2011/06/10/word-counts/

The Publishing Process, Word Counts, Writing Advice

Word Counts

Kathryn Evans

By Kathryn Evans

Getting a feel for the right length of your novel is a puzzling thing. I know it shouldn’t matter – a story takes as long to be told as a story takes to be told BUT I do tend to obsess about it. I think I like guidelines – like to know I’m on the right track. So here are some for comparison – they’re my choice, books I love – some of them quite surprised me:

Louis Sachar’s ‘Holes’ – 47079

Candy Gourlay’s ‘Tall Story’ – 47405

Meg Rosoff’s ‘How I live now’ – 46920

Maurice Sendak’s  ‘Where the wild things are’ – 336 ( the film had more words)

Philip Ardagh’s  Eddie Dickens ‘Dreadful Acts’ – 25104 ( Suprisingly long, they’re always over so quickly)

Alice Sebold’s  ‘The Lovely Bones’ – 97914

Kathryn Stockett’s ‘The Help’ – 158012 – really??!

‘Sarwat Chadda’s  ‘Devil’s Kiss’ – 68567

David Almond’s ‘Skellig’ –  31202 ( so short – who knew?)

Michael Morpurgo’s  ‘Private Peaceful’ 46316

Francesca Simon’s ‘Horrid Henry’ between 5,000 and 7,500 ( but you have to read them over and over again to persistent small children)

Sally Gardner’s  ‘I, Coriander’ 66497

J.K. Rowling’s  ‘Harry Potter and The Philosophers Stone’ –  77325

Strange how similar they feel in story weight – ‘The Help’ didn’t feel like it was 3 times as long as ‘Holes’.

This is fun too – for when you’re daydreaming about holding that finished book in your hand:

http://www.writersservices.com/wps/p_word_count.htm

Ok, maybe I’m getting a bit carried away…..and if I’ve listed your book – do feel free to dispute my word counts – I didn’t actually count them all myself – I’m not that desperate for procrastination tools…although….

Kathryn Evans is the author of  More of Me. She’ll be appearing at  YAShot on 22nd October 2016.  If you enjoyed More of Me, please vote for it in the EdBookFest first book award🙂 You have until the middle of October. Thanks!