YA Novel length

[John A Burks Jr]

Is there a standard length for YA Novels, say like the 80K of adult novels?

[John A Burks Jr]

Should have done some more reading here.

This (http://p197.ezboard.com/fabsolutewritefrm5.showMessage?topicID=145.topic) pretty much answered my question.

[Nateskate]

Not an expert here, but I'd say that YA length is shorter than the 700 page adult fantasy novel.

Here's my suggestion (What I do when I have a question like this) Go to Barnes and Nobles and take a peek at books of this Genre. I think if you can pinch more than an inche, you'll find that the younger they are, the shorter their attention spans are.

But most kids will read a longer book if they love the story, like LOTR, and Narnia.

[evanaharris]

And Narnia, it should be noted, is a longer story over shorter books.

Kids. I don't understand them. They don't want anything but mayonnaise on their sandwiches, it seems.

[CWGranny]

According to a poll the SCBWI took of its published members, those published with YA books said their manuscripts ranged from 25000 to around 40000 words. (100 - 150 manuscript pages).

gran

[BlackHolly]

You can definitely go longer with fantasy--I know a few people with 300+ page manuscripts and mine seem to be around 250 pages (which comes out to about 65K).

[Risseybug]

I was gonna say - my books tend to run around the 50K word mark, and I am getting longer the more of them I write. I write fantasy. Not that much longer, but longer. I don't think I'd go much past 65K.

[Kida Adelyn]

YA novels are anywhere from 30k to 80k. Sometimes even longer. Tamora Pierce's latest book is over 100k.

[John A Burks Jr]

I have two words for you: I can't count.

:rollin :rollin

[batyler65]

Good to see you at the Water Cooler! Hope you'll pop in from time to time and share your expertise.

We'll make coffee. ;-)

Barb

[BlackHolly]

Thanks, Barb!

I have been reading through the many threads here for weeks as I try to avoid writing. I finally finished that giant Publish America thread and am feeling quite proud of myself.

Mmmm. Coffee.

[batyler65]

That was quite a bit of procrastinating, there, Holly. You have to watch out. The Water Cooler can be addictive.

Barb

P.S. Don't avoid writing for too long. The books don't get done that way.