by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
It definitely seems as though my first novel is going to balloon to somewhere in the 140,000 – 160,000 word range. That’s just too long. If that’s what happens, I have two options.
One option is to split the novel into two and connect the story with a cliffhanger. But I’m uneasy about my first novel being the first part of a bigger story. Meanwhile, the other option is — especially if the novel is closer to 140,000 words — to pitch the novel as-is while also having a smaller novel of about 100,000 words that I can pitch in case it becomes clear that the larger novel just isn’t going to sell as a first novel.
I have a few scifi novels rolling around in my head that are pretty well developed. All I would have to do is think up some characters and a plot and I could probably knock out a first draft pretty quick. The biggest problem is, of course, that I am so obsessed with the mystery-thriller novel I’m working on — the main project — that it’s really, really difficult for me carve out any time for anything else.
But I think it’s time I figured out how to do that. I really love this mystery-thriller novel, but I’m also growing more and more worried that its word count will be…problematic.
