Author reflections
Is It Hard To Write a Long Novel?
How to tackle the vast expectations of fantasy and sci-fi.
Expectations vary across different book genres.
When I first started out in fantasy writing, I heard that there was a gap in the market for historical short reads. Accordingly, I wrote a historical fantasy novella, ‘The Broken Circle’. It was easy, fun and quick. Creating a work of that length certainly worked best around my other commitments (I have a full-time job, too).
I still think it’s a pretty good book, even if I have improved as an author since then.
Commercially, however, it wasn’t very successful.
If there really was a gap in the market, the audience weren’t demanding short novels about dark ages Scottish historical fantasy… with vikings (perhaps they wanted romance-based medieval stuff… who knows?!).
The thing is, the length of a novel matters, and so does a genre. But what really matters is writing the right length for a specific (sub)genre.
Fantasy readers generally want really long books. And that is a hell of a challenge for authors.
Here are some of the genre expectations you should know (these are just approximations, based on conversations with several other authors):
- Middle-grade adventures: around 30k–50k.
- Cozy mysteries: 35–55k.
- YA: around 60–70k.
- Romance: around 75k.
- Epic fantasy: 90k–120k or more.
- LitRPG: 80k–140k, with some going up to 200k or beyond.
If some of the longer ones sound insane, it’s worth bearing in mind that a major part of the authors’ income will come from Kindle unlimited page reads.
You get more page reads from a longer book, ergo more money:
Combine that with the expectations of the market, and it makes a lot of sense to write a longer book!
Think of it this way:
- Yes, I could write two 75k novels instead of a single 150k one. Two books instead of one sounds good…
- …but then I need to persuade people to buy/read volume 2 (and I need to fund cover art for the second book).
- People might enjoy book 1 and then think, “hey, I should read the sequel when it comes out,” but then forget all about it after a few months.
- If, instead, I write a single 150k book, well, after enjoying the first 75k, most are probably going to keep going.
Perhaps that shows why it can make sense to write a longer novel.
Being a long read is a real selling point.
But again, the biggest reason comes down to genre expectations. Fantasy readers expect and seek out long books. This is especially true for audiobooks. They want something to keep them going. Being a long read is a real selling point.
This brings me to the main question: how hard is it to write a long novel?
The challenge
I bet you’ve heard this joke:
Q: How do you eat an elephant?
A: One bite at a time.
It’s a terrible joke, but it makes a point. If you can write a thousand words, then you can write 150k. You just need to do it repeatedly.
Add to this that most fantasy and LitRPG novels don’t have especially complex plots. A lot of the word count comes from description and action. Having written a couple of (40k-ish) cozy mysteries, I’d say that they are a lot harder to plot — and need more editing — than a fantasy book.
To an extent, then, it’s just a matter of having an end goal, and keeping on going.
So, it’s time to set your targets.
The skills
Nowadays, I can write 10,000 words in a day if I put my mind to it. I couldn’t do that a decade ago, however. This is a skill that you can develop.
But anyway, you don’t need to write anything like that quickly. Writing at a rate of 1000 words per day is much more manageable, and if you can do that every day (on average, at least), you’ll have written a long enough book to satisfy a fantasy reader in around 100 days.
You could write three per year at that pace!
All the same, there’s no getting away from the fact that increasing and sustaining your writing speed will help a lot. As well as long novels, the fantasy audience wants to see long series, and the more rapidly you can release, the better.
I say more about increasing your writing speed here:
Completing the work
Writing a first draft with 100k+ words is one thing. Getting it fit for publication is another.
Many authors pay for editing, and here again, the length is a challenge, because editors will charge according to word count. Some of your costs (covers, marketing) are pretty fixed regardless of the length of the book, but editing is going to cost more the longer it is (and so is audio narration, if you go down that route).
Let’s consider three scenarios:
- You or someone close to you has the skills to edit the book, so it costs you nothing other than time.
- You pay for a line edit/proofread to correct spelling and grammar. For a 100k book, you’d probably be looking at around $1000–1500 in total for this, and more, of course, if the book is longer.
- For a deeper, developmental edit that tackles story structure, plot and characterization, it will be more still — probably at least twice as much.
You can see that this could add up, plus you will need to add at least $300 for a good cover (and I’ve seen people pay $1000 or more for top-quality original art for their book covers).
All of this will be worthwhile if your novel is a hit. However, I’d strongly recommend not sinking too much into the first book until you are sure there is a market for it.
Unless money is no object for you, it’s much less risky to get some reader feedback first, generate a buzz via sites like Royal Road using a cheap stock-image front cover, and perhaps even give away a free short story to see whether people engage with your characters.
Begin to build your author platform, in other words.
Once you are pretty sure that a book is going to sell, then it makes a lot of sense to invest in professional editing, covers, and an audio version. Even a few thousand is a fraction of what can be made from a successful fantasy novel, and most of these costs are one-offs, too.
Overall, it can certainly be very challenging to write a long novel. It takes time and patience, and it’s important to get your writing rate fast enough that you can complete it before you lose momentum.
All the same, it is really necessary if you want to reach the very top in genres like LitRPG, fantasy, and sci-fi.
As for me, I did learn from my mistakes… My current LitRPG series Sparta Online has been much more to the right length for the genre, while my latest web-novel Sorcerer, Level 1 clocked in at over 110k words.
Not only does writing a lot get easier with practice, you also get better at pacing a long novel after a few tries, too.
I hope that was useful to you. Good luck with your writing!
Before you go… should get my posts direct to your inbox. Do that here!
Also, if you’d like to experience Medium yourself, consider supporting me and thousands of other writers by signing up for a membership. It only costs $5 per month, it genuinely supports writers, and you have the chance to make serious money with your own writing as well! By signing up with this link, you’ll support me directly with a portion of your fee, it won’t cost you extra. If you do, thank you so very much!
