Wordy Wordcount

Words are the literal bread and butter of a successful author. I mean, it goes without saying that without words there is no work. As writers, how we craft our words is our art. Whether lofty and poetic, or short-and-punchy, we hone this craft to our own design, liking and specifications. We spend hours...days....weeks--years even--endlessly scribbling on paper and clacking away on our keyboards. After putting so much time and effort into our beloved projects, we want nothing more than to send them out into the world and experience the satisfaction of a job well done.

Unfortunately there is a caveat to all this.

Our artistic selves relish and thrive in the creation of our imagined worlds, but if we are to be truly successful as writers, we must tap into the more analytical parts of our brains.

If words are our art, then wordcount must be our science.

I can't stress how important this is. You can have the most original and beautifully-written novel saved to your hard drive, but the painful truth is, if you're a newcomer to the writing scene, elevating your status to that of Paid Author can hinge on your words in ways you did not expect.

When I first started putting these niggling ideas hopping around in my brain onto paper, and realized they were developing into a full-bore novel, I knew roughly zero about the ins and outs of the publishing industry. To my way of thinking, if you write a good story someone out there is bound to want to read it....right?

It's a lovely sentiment, but incredibly naive. When I finally typed The End on the last page of the first novel-length work my mind ever churned out, I was so proud of myself and excited to send it off to agents, fully expecting a positive reception into that elusive and coveted world of author. What I had on my hands though was a one hundred and fifty-seven thousand word behemoth.

Granted, my preferred genre happens to be the realms of fantasy, where the rules of wordcount can be a tad more flexible out of necessity. However, a flexible bend by no means equates to a complete break. In days gone by, it wasn't at all unheard of for a first timer to send out such a tome and gain success. It took a few rejection letters before I started doing my homework and learned that I was operating under some disastrously archaic notions.

Write what you want. Write what you are passionate about and what makes you feel good at the end of the day. Once you've come this far, sit back for a minute and congratulate yourself on your accomplishment because the act of completing a novel is no small feat and should not be dismissed out of hand.

Afterwards, if you don't already know, decide what category your work belongs in. And trust me, there are more of them than one might initially suspect. Once you've made this determination, the next step, and a very crucial one, is to research the current market wordcounts of your category. Compare this to what you have written to see how it measures up. You will likely find that some editing is in order, and since you already need to go through and proof-read your work, you might as well kill both those birds with the same stone.

Notice that I used the phrase market wordcounts. The jury may be out on what the "standard" wordcount for your category is. In my case, my initial findings seemed to indicate that 150,000 words was perfectly acceptable. I thought I would be okay by pairing it down by a few thousand, which I accomplished fairly easily once I noticed my proclivity for using a particularly unnecessary word to excess. (For more on this see my post "The Superfluous That".) What I ultimately learned was that while 150,000 words for an established author writing high fantasy may be fine, a first timer will undoubtedly have a tough time getting a work of this length past the query stage. So back to the editing board I went.

The world of traditional publishing has its own pulse and flux and like all living things, it is ever-evolving, adapting to changes in market trends. These days an acceptable wordcount for me is closer to 120,000 words, so I am working on what I hope will be a final round of editing to a manuscript I thought was ready to be pitched.

Live and learn. With the positive feedback I received through contests and even one agent I pitched who was kind enough to include in her rejection that my concept is great, I'm pretty confident that my story and writing are not the reason I'm getting rejected. So I did more research and lo and behold, figured out my current wordcount leans toward a riskier side most agents simply may not feel comfortable with taking.

Always remember, at its core, writing is still a business. If you are at the pitching phase of your career and striking out, don't lose heart or hope! If you haven't already explored the possibility, I encourage you to examine your wordcount. You may find that some adjustments are needed, and making them might just pave your way into being published.