: Re: How long can a Children's Novel be? I'm currently writing a realism fantasy novel targeted for a 9-12 age group. Since it became so long(the first draft turned out to be at least 90,000 words),

@Looi5811334

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It's not too long if it's good enough. I had a look on my shelf and I can see a couple of the Skullduggery Pleasant series that are long. The last of the Raven's Gate series is seriously long.
However, I think you might be able to cut some of the words. Start with description. If you have any paragraphs of just description, consider cutting them down to a single sentence. Kids tend to skip long passages of description. Actually, as an adult, I do too.
Can some of the direct speech be left out or become indirect speech?
Have you used 'ly' adverbs and too many adjectives?
Stephen King is big on cutting words out. Have you read his book 'On Writing'?

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