: Re: How long can a fantasy novel stay in metaphorical Kansas? I am writing a novel with the basic Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland or the Matrix if you want structure. The novel begins in perfect

@Megan928

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Consider an example for a published series: the first novel of Chalker's Dancing Gods series, The River of Dancing Gods, is 101,380 words. The first chapter introduces the two protagonists and consists mostly of dialogue between Joe the trucker and Marge the runaway housewife giving each other their backstories and how they ended up on the same stretch of highway. It's 3,858 words into the first chapter before you reach the first paragraph where the first hint of weird things start to happen. In context of reading the whole book it doesn't seem excessive, and another 142 words wouldn't make or break it.

Of course, the whole point of this is that Chalker needed to introduce the characters because their motivations are important for why they are selected to be taken to a magical world: Marge has come out of an abusive relationship, she has no future and nothing to live for. Joe is just making his way through life. She's desperate for an escape. Joe is, at heart, noble. Neither will, in the grand scheme of things, be very important. Once that's established, then the wizard shows up and takes them to a world where they become very important.

For a 100,000 word novel, you're talking about 4% "mundane" intro, which I don't find to be excessive. If it were a movie, you're talking a few minutes to set things up. The eponymous Kansas scenes up to the tornado from the classic film version of The Wizard of Oz took up 18 pages of the 130 page script, lasted longer than four minutes (out of the 101 minute movie), even taking into account the singing.

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