How Long Should My Novel Be?
These numbers are just estimates and should not be considered as hard and fast rules. According to what I have found across the web, here is a list of popular writing genres and their average word counts:
Fantasy – 109,000
Historical Fiction – 102,000
Horror – 102, 000
Literary Fiction – 98,000
Science Fiction – 98,000
Action/Adventure – 96,000
Contemporary Fiction – 96,000
Mystery/Thriller – 91,000
Romance – 91,000
Crime Fiction – 89,000
Religious Fiction – 75,000
Erotica – 58,000
Short Stories – 30,000
How Long Will It Take Me to Write My Novel?
The short answer is: It depends on a few things; your genre, your writing style, how much time you have to dedicate to writing, and how fast a typist you are. Hopefully, you already know your genre and something about your writing style. Fantasy, horror, and historical fiction often have the highest word counts and thus would take the most amount of time. If your writing style is more literary, then you will also likely have a higher word count in your final manuscript.
If you are serious about writing, you need to make time to write. You don’t have to have a set time to write or even a set number of hours per week that you write but having a rough idea of the time you have available can save you future headaches. Your target word count can be anything, but it should be somewhat ambitious so you can reach your writing goals.
If you don’t know how fast you type, there are several calculators online to try. You just type a phrase, and the program will calculate how fast you type in ‘words per minute’ or WPM. Just search for “wpm calculator” or “typing test,” and you’ll find free resources to try.
Once you know your WPM, you can find out how quickly you can reach your target word count. Start by calculating word counts for each day you write. In an average working month of 30 days, there are 20 workdays (excluding weekends). So, we’ll calculate our word counts for a 20-day time frame.
If I have an hour to write each day, I probably won’t spend that entire time typing my story. There is also planning, researching, and editing to account for. Let’s assume then that I write for 30 minutes each day. If my WPM is around 40, I’ll end up with around 1200 words per day that I type. (The average WPM is around 40 according to Google).
Of course, if you type a little slower than 40 WPM, or you have less time to write, you’ll have to lower your expectations to meet your needs.
Based on the above calculations, let’s assume I’m writing a historical fiction novel, which has an average length of 120,000 words. I can calculate how long it will take to write my book: 120,000/1200 = 100 days. If I write 5 days a week, it will take me about 5 months to finish my book (100 days/20 days). It may take me more or less time, depending on my life and responsibilities.
Above all, remember that progress is the goal – not perfection! It’s easy to get caught up in the thought that your writing isn’t perfect or that you have to go back and change things. Progressing toward your final manuscript is goal number one. There will be plenty of revisions to do later. But once you have the final manuscript completed, you are one step closer to achieving your writing dreams.
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