Too Much of a Good Thing?

You can include a lot of world-building, if you do so skillfully, and plenty of modern readers will accept it. Agents and editors may be a different story. Steven Erikson outdoes Tolkien on world-building, and the size of his Malazan series dwarfs LoTR. I think it is no accident, though, that the book that is thinnest and has the least in the way of world-building is his first novel.

I find that new writers often want to put way more world-building into a novel than the story needs, the idea being that since they took the time to create it, the material should go in there. Many readers don't want that, and if it is pushing your novel above what editors want, then I think it is best to cut. I certainly wouldn't cut down on plot or characters.

Personally, I'll go for the great world-building as a reader, but it better be presented in an interesting fashion, either as a natural part of the story itself or else the author better have a strong, engaging narrative voice with which to present it. If it's just dry background provided as lumps of information, I'm not going to read for long.

 

If you targeted an agent you actually really want to work with, and he RESPONDED to you personally in any way, you ought to take his advice, because he's either impressed with what you have and wants to help you make the manuscript perfect for his representation, or he's the nicest agent ever, willing to write a personal communication rather than responding with stock rejection.

If he was just a random name you selected, there may be a quality issue with him and his business, but that's neither here nor there, I suppose, just be careful that you are enlisting the help and advice of professional people with something backing up their reputations.

Okay, so 175k is a big book. But it's the size of The Lies of Locke Lamora, which is my favorite book I've ever read, and it is set in a rich and detailed world. Did Lynch need to show us the Teeth Show? NO. He could have just let the meeting between Locke and Don Salvara happen in a quiet office. But his showing the world was part of why the book felt so authentic. Also, his writer voice is exceptional, if you ask me. It isn't toned down and minimized to spare word count, it's heavy-handed right from paragraph one. And it makes the book awesome.

If you want to read a long first novel, I'd recommend reading that one. It might give you a better perspective of what kind of story/ plot/ world-building balance creates a great book.

My initial reaction is to say you probably built too much world (based on the fact that thousands of people are all in this exact same situation, and most folks have spent so much time drawing maps and creating comprehensive histories for every city, person, and feature. And maybe they've written shorts as character exploration, and over-complicated the characters in a way that has become a touch self-indulgent. Etc. We've all done it, perhaps. Some more than others.

Basically, I think you need to really establish (and be honest) whether you have included any of the things that readers simply aren't going to be interested in reading, and if you have, start eliminating those excessive words (maybe with the help of a trustworthy critique partner who would help you judge what works best and what's erroneous). And if you haven't, after reading a couple first books that rival your word count, if still, you're confident that you made all the right choices (and I'm not judging, because I wrote a series of books, and then I wrote a stand alone I felt would be a great debut novel, and it's about 150k words, so I understand how these things happen), then consider hiring a professional editor and self-publish the thing. You aren't required to fit into the scope of what an agent "prefers". Put plainly, an agent will jump all over a great novel whether it falls into their word count preferences or not. They will want it if it's marketable and professional. They won't read a compelling story that's really well-edited and consistent, and throw it in the trash. Well, not forever, that is. A single agent might feel the work isn't for them. If they are on the fence about it, they might pass it on to a coworker who represents a work like yours. Or maybe they'll send you a personal note of someone else in the industry who would be perfect to represent your great novel, that just isn't right for them.

Hope that helps you in some way.

 

The word count cap isn't absolute. Publishers can and do take novels long first novels, particularly in fantasy. Joe Abercrombie. Scott Lynch. Patrick Rothfuss. Terry Goodkind. R. Scott Bakker. Brandon Sanderson. Jane Linskold. &c.

 

I'll buy it if it's not part of a series. If it is a series, I prefer to wait until the series is done or at least fairly well progressed. Only exception I've made recently is The Expanse, which are great fun to read.