story length

[KeithD]

I think 40k is the industry standard absolute minimum for something to be considered a novel. Since the Lit category also includes novellas, you're absolutely fine, I assume.

For an e-book, yes (more like 45,000, though). For print, a short novel would start at about 60,000 words. There was a time when print publishers considered nothing less than that as cost effective to print (unless the author was already a celebrity). When Steve Martin's Shopgirl novella made it into print in 2001, that was considered a real breakthrough in print. But, of course, it was written by a celebrity.

 

[Sai_dias_29]

What is too long? what is too short?

Too long would be a short story stretched into a long story, and too short would a long story stretched into short story. Some stories need to be really long so that you can get invested in it, others really don't. For me personally, I like stories that are over 12k words, because I noticed that's where a lot of good stories are. Below 12k usually means the story is rushed, and haphazard. There's nothing there to get excited about.

 

[FelHarper]

thanks

good advice.
This is my second or third go around. I keep starting stories with the intention of writing erotic fiction only to find i have started a story that isn't erotic at all.

Maybe my characters just aren't that into each other.

Ha! I have the opposite problem.

I get all kinds of ideas for sci-if stories and sex always seems to show up. I’ve got one long-running series with concepts that are interesting enough that I could probably publish it as a mainstream SF novel series, but removing all (or most) of the smut would change the emotional beats of the story so much that I would need to rewrite half of it.

 

[Seadog777]

The ONLY rule is that it has to be at least 750 words, other than that, there is NO set criteria for how long a story should be.

The ONLY thing that truly matters is what the author thinks. It's your story, nobody else's. You write it to your likings and your standards and as long or short as you feel it should be.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

I have a post that breaks down the average word count in each category.

Here's a link to that

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/word-count-stats-by-category-completed.1577661/