Young Writers Society

You know when you get that sad feeling when you're writing a novel - you think you're nearly finished and you realise that you've only written about 10,000 words! It is so annoying and is constantly happening to me! Do you know how long a novel (on average is) i.e. Over 20,000, 50,000, 100,000 words?

Generally, 10K words or less is considered a short story. Stories between 10K and 40K are usually classified as novellas, and anything above 40K is considered a novel.

These numbers vary, though, depending on publisher and genre.

I'd say don't stress about meeting a particular word count. Some stories just aren't meant to be novel-length, and forcing them to become novels rarely works out well.

Thank you very much!! I think that I will never meet 50K but we will see...!

Also, one thing to keep in mind that short stories and novellas are very publishable. Novels aren't the only market out there; they're simply the most well known.