Hello from a newbie

[jat]

HI.

Have just found this forum & all the great advice it contains. Thanks everyone for the time spent on it.

I have just finished my first novel & am starting the hunt for an agent - which I know will be long, labourious, and who knows if I will ever find one.

I have a question about sub-genres. I know my book is fantasy, but trying to work out which sub-genre it fits into is a little more challenging. I 'think' it comes under low fantasy as all the other sub-genres I have researched are more specific - such as epic, urban, etc etc. When submitting to an agent, is it necessary to actually class it as low fantasy, or would just plain fantasy be OK?

And a second question. My finished book is approx 65,000 words. Is this too short to be considered as an adult novel? I have read so much about word counts, some of it conflicting, but generally I have heard that for a 1st novel, agents like to consider between 65,000-80,000 words. Is that correct?

Cheers.

 

[The Judge]

Hello jat, and Welcome to the Chronicles. If you haven't done so already, pop across to Introductions and tell us a bit about yourself, and you can be welcomed officially.

As to your questions, I'm pretty sure that just saying "fantasy" should be OK if you can't immediately slot your work into one of the other sub-genres. However, nowadays it is important to be able to point to comparables in recently published and successful fiction of the same type, ie "It will appeal to people who like X book by Y author". So you need to have an idea of what other books are out there which are similar to your own, and this may well point you in the direction of a sub-genre.

As to word count, there have been a number of threads on this in the past, so it might be worth your while to go through Aspiring Writers looking. The search mechanism isn't working as well as it could, for reasons which escape my non-technical brain, but if you do a google search and somehow restrict the search to SFFChronicles it should get you there. (With luck someone who understands what that means may come along and help us both out!) My own understanding is that fantasy for adults should be in the 120,000 range, so it appears your book is considerably too short.

Er... I know this is probably not want you want to hear, but I do wonder if you ought to re-consider sending your work out to agents just yet. If you have only recently finished your first book then the odds are that it still needs a good bit of work to bring it up to scratch. I don't say this in any way to upset you, but from my own experience and things I have learned since being here. When I finished my first novel, I felt exactly the same as you -- my book was ready for the world! Ahem. Several major re-writes later I think I'm just about getting there.

So. My advice is to start having a good look around the different threads on Aspiring Writers, and particularly the Critiques section. Make yourself at home and contribute. In due course, when you've settled in and become part of the furniture here, put something up on Critiques -- and we'll be sure to let you know if your work is ready! In the meantime, carry on reading and writing.

Have fun.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

I wondered about this myself in my newbie days :-

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/44734-book-length-is-this-a-worrying-new-trend.html

However as "The Judge" says there are a few threads on the subject.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

The length of book that editors are looking for differs from genre to genre and country to country. I see you are in France. If you submit a fantasy novel for adults to British publishers, they are going to want something between 100-120K. If you are sending it to the US, it could be toward the lower end of that range. In Australia, they do want shorter books by new authors, but it's a smallish market and they will give the preference to Australian authors.

Beyond that, I can't add anything to what The Judge said.

 

[Captain Campion]

HI.

Have just found this forum & all the great advice it contains. Thanks everyone for the time spent on it.

I have just finished my first novel & am starting the hunt for an agent - which I know will be long, labourious, and who knows if I will ever find one.

I have a question about sub-genres. I know my book is fantasy, but trying to work out which sub-genre it fits into is a little more challenging. I 'think' it comes under low fantasy as all the other sub-genres I have researched are more specific - such as epic, urban, etc etc. When submitting to an agent, is it necessary to actually class it as low fantasy, or would just plain fantasy be OK?

And a second question. My finished book is approx 65,000 words. Is this too short to be considered as an adult novel? I have read so much about word counts, some of it conflicting, but generally I have heard that for a 1st novel, agents like to consider between 65,000-80,000 words. Is that correct?

Cheers.

I don't know how much research you have done into the whole process, but be very, very careful with agents. For every legitimate literary agent there are two or three scam artists.

If you are not already familiar with the web site "predators and editors" then you'll want to head over there right away. I can't post links yet (too low a post count) but it's pred-ed with a dot and the usual 'com' after.

I nearly lost a lot of time (and money) to a fake agent back in 1999.

Good luck.

 

[chrispenycate]

Salut et bievenu au Chronicles.

Je ne suis pas ici pour l'instant, mais dés mon retour je manquerais pas de vous...

No, that's not right, is it? And I can't help with your selling problems, because I've not got that far yet.

Nice to meet you anyway.

 

[Interference]

Congratulations on completing your novel, whatever befalls it, that spectacular achievement will be one that stays with you. And welcome.