Minimum length for fantasy

I think it depends on your age category and genre. YA fantasy typically runs from 80K to 100K, while historical or epic fantasy can run longer than 100K. I think you'd be fine if you got it up to around 80K, possibly even 75K, but don't feel you have to force yourself up to 100K if that's not how your story goes.

 

Don't try to force your book to be longer. If it's meant to be 60K, it's meant to be 60K. I would be worried about trying to make it longer resulting in lots of filler the readers don't care about. YA is usually longer than 60K as well, heck, even a lot of Middle Grade novels exceed that. A 60K fantasy novel will be a hard sell, though. 80k would be acceptable.

Fantasy is usually longer because of the amount of world development you have to do and the typically large scale of the plot (by that, i mean the plot usually revolves around saving the world, not something that affects only the protagonist like winning best in show at a dragon show or something--WAIT! Story idea!) So...why does yours deviate? Is the plot just fairly straightforward? Are you especially sparse with description?

 

What Ireth said. If you're writing for an adult audience, I'd say at least 65k. I do know authors who produce books at 75k and make a living but that's certainly not the norm. Most fantasy books are tomes. Mine don't go past the 65k mark but I write mostly short anyway. It's entirely up to you.

 

A bit contrary to the general sentiments expressed thus far, but many years ago, 60 - 70,000 words was the norm for fantasy novels, 200 pages, give or take.

As of late, I have been reading some (Lovecraftian) niche novels, ranging from so-so to pretty good quality wise that also check in at 60-70,000 words.

 

Maybe what you have is a long novella-length work, and that's the right length for the plot/storyline.

They (novellas) are an easier sell than they about a decade back, with the solid rise of ebooks. Printing a novella for distribution wasn't considered efficient, among other things.

So, if it ends up shorter than 60,000 words...that's not a horrible thing.

 

I don't know about readers but you are going to struggle to sell a 60k novel to a traditional publisher, even small press, these days.

 

The scope of the novel (how ambitious it is) is going to be an important factor. If it's just the hero going on a short quest, like a Conan type story, then a smaller word count would be more acceptable.

 

Yeap. This is absolutely right. Length is the only complaint I have about the fantasy genre. Reading and writing tomes is hella annoying. So depending on what the OP wants to do, Russ's point is certainly something to keep in mind. And if you're going for Indie, pretty much the same applies. I see novellas doing well in certain fantasy subgenres but most best-sellers are in the 100k range.

 

If it's the first of a series as you said, you could try introducing some of the subplots from subsequent books earlier in the story. You could reveal some information earlier. You could introduce hints of that "bigger, badder stuff."

A first book stands on its own, sure, but I would think it would have to set up the over-arching plot of the entire story.

You could also try putting more twists in the plot. For example, maybe an escape, instead of succeeding, goes wrong. Maybe someone gets grievously injured. Maybe the main characters get separated. Make things worse for them. It's hard to go wrong with that.

 

Devor makes a good point.

On a humorous note, my wife had finished her now sold first novel and I think it came in at around 5k less words than she and some people advising her thought was ideal. She was brainstorming about how to get it to that "ideal" length and I told her:

"Just give your protagonist a stutter."

Didn't go over very well at the time.

 

Hahahaha! I have a character with a stutter and writing it in gets exhausting. I keep forgetting to include it so he has large sections of dialogue written normally because I just forgot.

 

It might be coming up short for a few different reasons. It could be that your pace is too quick and you're rushing through events. It could be that you need another subplot. It could be that you are lacking in prose or description. There's nothing wrong with a more direct style (it works better in some genres than in others, for instance, Crime Pulp) but generally Fantasy readers want to be swept up with a balance of detail and action. You could even slow the action down a bit for more character development. If it has a non-earth setting, you need to take a bit of time explaining exactly what that means. (Along with more characters and complex story lines, it's one of the reasons Fantasy is expected to be on the longer end... if you set a Realistic Fiction book in WWII Germany, it'll require a lot less detail since most of us are generally familiar with the laws of physics, human limitations, and the general setting. If it's set on the magical island of Klaxonberry you'll need to give more information to the reader to explain precisely what that means and whether or not the people/creatures there are bound by pesky things like gravity or taxes.)

I suggest that you don't even think about that at this point. Finish the first draft first. The next time through you might find that several scenes need to be slowed down, split up, or just have extra scenes added in altogether. One of the books I'm working on right now had a first draft of 55K words. By the time I finish the second draft it will be closer to 75K and after the third draft, I'll eliminate filters and pare down the prose so it'll probably end up closer to 60 - 70K (not a Fantasy book so I'm not too concerned). The word count fluctuates and when you get to the next portion, you might decide to take some time to flesh out a character's backstory, introduce a new character or explore a new subplot ... (unless you reject rewrites) what you end up with almost certainly won't reflect the word count of the first draft. Basically, no need to stress about that at this point.

Another option is to break up the three acts and create (instead) a short story series. Hope this helps!

 

Philip k Dick turned scifi on its head with short stories dealing with singular concepts. It all depends on what you're trying to say. Three book epic with no production credentials, good luck.

 

The think is, once you start proofreading / reviewing your story, you will realize you need to add more details or explain some scenarios for it to make sense. So, my suggestion is, do not ruin your flow. Keep writing. Once you do over, you'll have a lot of time and opportunity to expand. Make sense?

 

Are you going through a publisher or self publishing and what age group are you looking at?

This article is pretty good at explaining how long a novel should be. A few of my editor friends have agreed.

How Long Should a Book Be? -- Word Count For Books Explained