: 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

@Welton431

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If you want to sell your work, you'll have to learn to budget your words, as well as the self-discipline it takes to stick to your budget.

Here's an example. Your publisher wants a novel of 80,000 words. Your plot breaks down into 40 chapters. That's an average of 2,000 words per chapter. Now, you don't have to put exactly 2,000 words into each chapter (that would be weird), but when one scene runs long, you have to cut something elsewhere.

If you're a pantser, you'll still need an outline to provide to your agent or a publisher.

While it may sound easy, writing to fit can be hard to do. There's always that temptation to expand on a description, a conversation, an action sequence. You can tell yourself that it will all work out in the rewrite. In the end, it forces you to focus on what is most important.

During the course of writing those 40 chapters, you'll probably come up with new ideas that you want to incorporate. To stay within your budget, though, you can't add new subplots or new characters unless you replace things you already have. It's usually a good idea to have an auxiliary plot that you can add if necessary. In the same vein, you should identify a plot or character that you can write out.

If it sounds like work, well, it is. Publishing is a business. A book is a product. Writing is just providing content. Sad but true.

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