T’aint necessarily so. As most women can testify.
How long your piece of writing is (what did you think I was talking about?!) depends on what you’re writing.
We’ve all read a book that was meant to be a short story, but somebody put it on the rack and stretched it (and us) out to torturous novel-length. We’ve also read short stories that were meant to be book-length. So, if you want to be a good writer, pay attention to the needs of your material.
Sometimes you need to identify what it is you’re writing, and sometimes, you need to identify what you’ve already written. Either way, the chart below may be a helpful guide.
| How Long is A… | Average # of words | Approximate # of double-spaced typewritten pages |
|---|---|---|
| Short-short story | 500-2000 | 2-8 |
| Short story | 2500-5000 | 10-20 |
| Novelette | 7,000-15,000 | 28-60 |
| Novel - hard cover | 25,000-150,000 | 100-600 |
| Novel - paperback | 35,000-80,000 | 140-320 |
| Children’s picture book | 500-1000 | |
| Juvenile book | 15,000-80,000 | 60-320 |
| Nonfiction book | 20,000-200,000 | 80-800 |
| TV Script - ½ hour | 25-40 | |
| TV script - 1 hour | 55-70 | |
| Play: one act | 20-30 min | 20-30 |
| Play: three act | 1-1 ½ hrs. | 90-120 |
| Movie scenario | 1-1 ½ hrs. | 120-250 |
| Radio feature copy | 1 min. + 15 double-spaced lines | 3 min. = 2 pp |
| Poem | 2-100 lines (most magazines prefer 4-16 lines) | |
| Query letter | 1 full page, single-spaced | |
| Speech | 250 words = 2 minutes | 12 - 15 pp = 1/2 hour |
I would love to give credit where credit is due. However, I got this from a mentor many, many moons ago, who had no idea where she originally got it. (You’ll notice it doesn’t list blogs on it, so that alone tells you how ancient it is.)
For now, I’m considering it stolen so many times it’s gotta be public domain—but if it is your baby, and you want credit, please let me know.
• What’s your favorite piece length?
• Are you a poet, an essayist, a novelist?
• Have you ever tried to stretch your talents and write something of a different length?