: Re: Is there a method to estimating the length of a work before writing it? I am writing my first novel, which I think likely will end up being several volumes. Although I have a lot of experience

@Sarah872

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I would consider that between A --> B, where A is your main characters(s) start and B is the conclusion that between A and B you might have:

• A journey divided into sites or events.
• A time span where characters age or time segments progress which would divide your story up.
• A character evolution of traits or discoveries (or major clues).

In each (and other story arcs) you will find a natural partitioning. If you consider that a story might have five partitions, if you tell yourself each partition will itself have five segments:

5 x 5 = 25 "parts" or perhaps chapters, with 2000-4000 words per:

25 x 3000 = 75k words or a range of 50k to 100k depending on your per/chapter count.

Of course this is vague, but really so is the question: how long is a string?

In the end, divide and conquer.

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