DeScribe

How long are your stories?

I know people who feel like 3,000 words is never enough.
"Hey guys, this story is actually part of a larger piece that I'm writing at the moment, it's a novel actually, so think of this as a chapter..."
"Once I started writing I just went nuts and couldn't stop, and I don't feel like it can be cut, it's 12,000 words, miss, is that going to be okay?"
And then people like me worry that we'll never reach the word limit, or feel certain that short stories are their format, aiming to write only collections.
I've only tried once to write a novel. It was a horrendous failure and I felt like the whole thing was just a lot of padding. I didn't enjoy writing it at all. But this could just be part of my development as a writer - maybe later I'll feel more comfortable with longer work. For now I'm far more at home with stories of less than thirty pages.

So how long are your stories? Have you ever tried novel writing? Are you writing one now? Does it suck?

Great post.

My shortest story is about 600 words; my longest, about 3,500. I'd like to be able to go even longer (you see the good/ great SS writers able to go up to 10 or 15,000 words) but I get terrified that I'm boring people.

I've tried writing two novels. Both died about 20,000 words in, and in hindsight, that was a good thing (although I have a soft spot for the first which is more like YA anyway).

Then I wrote a children's novel. 4,500 words, eight chapters. Took two days, and it just went schloop! and there it was, on the paper. So I tried another...12,000 words this time, in December/ January. I started another one just before semester (grrrreat timing). It's a book of two halves, each about 10,000 words, and I wrote the first half and got distracted - but I'm definitely coming back.

YA/ childrens' writing isn't for everyone, but those smaller novels for 8 - 10 year-olds are like novels in miniature: you can play around with character arcs and plot threads without getting lost.

Well it can be argued, quite successfully that I suck at short stories. WEll not suck, but I just get bored with the shortness and lack of epicness and the twists. I always find reading them and writing them unsatisfying.

Currently have about 30, 000 words for the novel I'm woring on. Been writing since end of Decemember, but haven't written any this month because of damn assignments. Should be just under 100, 000 at the end of the year though, complete first draft.