Middle grade word count - are they going up?

Debbie V · Aug 4, 2014

This may not be the answer you want, but write the story first. Decide what it is afterward. It could be an older chapter book or young middle grade. The age of the protagonist and word count alone don't determine this. Reading level and the handling of themes come into play as well.

CheddarBug said:
Not to steal anyone's thread, but out of curiosity...

I have a WIP that has a 10yr old protagonist. Using renlearn I've looked up the series I used to love as a kid, especially those most like what I'm writing. They ranged from 10k to 30k. Should I be shooting for 30k? And what age range would my readers likely be? I suppose that worries me the most. I don't want to dumb down my story, but also don't want it to be above their heads.

For further reference points:

My story deals with horses. The original Saddle Club series had older characters (about 12-13) and averaged around 30k. A more modern series, Canterwood Crest, also has characters older than mine with an average word count of 45k.

jvc · Aug 4, 2014

CheddarBug said:
Not to steal anyone's thread, but out of curiosity...

I have a WIP that has a 10yr old protagonist. Using renlearn I've looked up the series I used to love as a kid, especially those most like what I'm writing. They ranged from 10k to 30k. Should I be shooting for 30k? And what age range would my readers likely be? I suppose that worries me the most. I don't want to dumb down my story, but also don't want it to be above their heads.

For further reference points:

My story deals with horses. The original Saddle Club series had older characters (about 12-13) and averaged around 30k. A more modern series, Canterwood Crest, also has characters older than mine with an average word count of 45k.

I think you'd be looking around 30-45k for realistic middle grade fiction. It can, of course, be higher or lower depending on the book. Jennifer Laughran's word count guide for children's books is a good guide for such stuff. (You can google her, or I have a link to the page on my blog).

RedWombat · Aug 4, 2014

My comic hybrid series runs 15-17K, with a lot of illustrations. They're marketed for reluctant readers, though, and I recently turned in a 65K comic MG novel with nobody worried about length...

JustSarah · Aug 4, 2014

So where does this put 20,000 words? I'm in that weird situation where it's to old for a chapter book. Yet to short for even lower MG.:/ I'm going to try for 35K though.

It will just mean a little bit different plotting.

thelittleprince · Aug 5, 2014

My published (lower?) MG novel had a word count of under 28000, and no one ever said a thing about it. So it mustn't be so unusual to publish a MG novel of that size.

I think word count is not only dependent on the type of book, but on the author's style of writing. Some MG books contain long, beautiful, descriptive passages, but my style of writing is brief and to the point and jumps from action to action quite quickly.

BookmarkUnicorn · Aug 5, 2014

I think there is always a market for shorter MG upper or lower, at least on the reader side. It's not uncommon for children of that age (especially if they have learning disabilities like I did) to find reading to be hard or boring, and shorter books can rope them into longer ones in the long term.

sooshi · Aug 14, 2014

My manuscript is currently at around 31,500 works. It's meant to be a middle grade novel, but I worry about it being too short and coming off as a chapter book. I also worry because there are 30 chapters, which seems like too many for a shorter MG book. It's my first novel, and I'm having trouble making longer chapters without there being awkward transitions. Maybe I need to fill them in more?

Debbie V · Aug 26, 2014

Sooshi,
30 k is fine. Padding for the sake of adding is not. Do what the story needs. Consider posting in SYW. We'll let you know if we think you are spot on or not. We'll be gentle if you ask us to.

Maniac McGee has a half page chapter. Like the book, the chapters should be as long as they need to be.

JustSarah · Sep 14, 2014

I think the confusing thing about what the word count is, sometimes you'll find older books (like the Charlie books) that seem around 30,000 words. I know the minimum for fantasy these days is somewhere around 35K.

Middle grade word count - are they going up?

Debbie V

Mentoring Myself and Others

jvc

Fearsome Dragon Mod

RedWombat

Runs With Scissors

JustSarah

thelittleprince

BookmarkUnicorn

does believe in fairies

sooshi

Debbie V

Mentoring Myself and Others

JustSarah