On Stretching Word Counts to Fit a Genre and/or Expectations

[writeworld]

rukiruki asked: I’m writing a story that I really want to publish and then maybe turn it into a movie if it’s a best seller. Problem is, I think it’s too short, and I’ve imagined the whole shebang in my dreams and it was fine, but on paper, (electronic paper, that is), it seemed rather too concise. There are so far about 18,850 words and 52 pages on Microsoft Word. Should I elongate or no?

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson is around 25,200 words and Will Smith stared in that movie in 2007. The Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov is around 14,000 words. That movie came out in 1999. Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville, a work which has two (or more?) films to its name, clocks in at a mere 14,355 words.

While there are plenty of awesome works of short fiction out there that made it to the silver screen, that doesn’t mean a novella-length story is right for you. I think this is a question that only you can answer, but there are definitely resources out there to help you make an informed decision.

Bree Ogden wrote an "Ask the Agent" post back in February, 2013 that answers this question pretty succinctly:

Other articles get much more specific on word count by genre:

• WordDreams: Word Count by Genre
• Literaticat: Wordcount Dracula
• The Swivet: All new & revised: On word counts and novel length
• Cassandra Marshall: Word Count Guidelines
• BookEndsLitAgency: Word Count
• Ronnie Smith: Genre Novels - Word Count Rules, Subgenres, and Guidelines For Getting Your Book Published
• Heather Maclean: How Long Should Your Book Be? Word Counts by Genre

Here are some more articles to read on word counts:

• LitReactor: Ask The Agent: Your Novel Word Count Guide and More! (second question down)
• WriteWorld: Thoughts on Story Length
• WriteWorld: Terms for the Lengths of Stories
• KeyboardSmashWriters: Bulking up that word count
• Writer’s Digest: Word Count for Novels and Children’s Books: The Definitive Post
• DailyWritingTips: Word Count and Book Length
• How to Write a Book Now: Word Count: How Long Should A Book Be?
• Craig Allan Teich: For Novelists, Does Size Really Matter? Let’s Talk Word Count
• Ryan Sullivan: Word count does matter
• A. Willow: Does Word Count Matter?

And, if you want more inspiration from small word counts that made a huge impact, here are a few book lists from GoodReads of great novelettes, novellas, and short novels:

• Goodreads: Best Knock-out Novelettes - Novellas
• Goodreads: World’s Greatest Novellas
• Goodreads: Great Short Short Books
• Goodreads: Popular Great Short Reads Books
• Adaptations: From Short Story to Big Screen: 35 Great Stories That Have Inspired Great Films
• Bonus: Wikipedia: List of short fiction made into feature films

Thank you for your question! If you have any comments on this post or other questions about writing, you can message us here! 

-C