by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
During the multi-year process of developing and writing my first novel, I’ve become something of a storytelling snob. To the point that I often walk out movies the moment I feel the storytelling isn’t up to my standards.
The works of the late Stieg Larsson are about 150,000 words on average.
I. Do. This. All. The. Time.
So, it means something when I look over the outline I have for the third draft of my first novel and I’m pleased.
There is one problem — too many scenes.
This is a real problem because, in general, if you’re a nobody loser like me writing your first novel and you hope to sell it traditionally, it needs to be ~100,000 words. But, just from eyeballing the number of scenes this novel has, it definitely seems as though I should probably accept that it’s going to be around 140,000 words.
Fuck it, we’ll do it live.
The only glimmer of hope I have is the fact that The Girl On The Train is about that many words and THAT was a success. If I REALLY want to be delusional, I would compare this novel to what Stieg Larsson wrote which, was, on average about 150,000 words.
So, I find myself with something of a conundrum. The story I want to tell is really, really good — it’s just too long for a first time author who is living in oblivion.
Ugh. Fucking ugh.
