SHORT KINGS VS. SIZE QUEENS
When is the best time to decide on the scope of your book?
This week’s check-in comes out of last week’s chat with an IWG member who wanted to get an idea of the early planning involved when tackling a novel for the first time.
In a confession that will surprise everyone except my editors: I did not outline or plot a novel until 2020’s Little Threats—not really. I just wrote as if I were riding a bike, and sometimes with hands off the bars. While this working style propelled me at the time, the truth is each of those early novels had a protracted editorial stage, going back and forth in size, tone, and even POV. For The Blondes, I had about eight plot beats written on cue cards, which is barely more prep than grocery list. All this meant I was having to make decisions with my editors after the writing, whereas I should have made them before.
As for length, the ultimate decider is the market. To publish a novella takes a brave independent publisher or a superstar. Six-hundred page doorstoppers go in and out of fashion, but are mostly out at the moment given the rise in printing costs this year. Below are some tips on how to avoid those two challenging extremes.