My fifth novel, tentatively called Second Chance is at 13,000 words now. I don't really know the total word count yet, meaning I haven't set any goal for a word count for this novel. My Killer novels had a goal of 90,000 words, and the two books average that. The Vase is about 87,000 words and John Dunn is over 120,000 words. But since Second Chance is what might be called a "sports' novel, I don't think it has to be that many words. I'm not saying it won't be, I just don't think it needs to be.
Of course any novel should only be as many words as it takes to tell the story. But I don't consider myself a short story writer. Nor do I write short novels. I think any novel that is over 70,000 words would qualify as a regular novel, whereas novels with a word count of 40,000 and less would be considered a short novel. Words counts in between could probably go either way.
I think MG/YA novels are usually short novels, or books with 40,000 words. No wonder so many people choose to write MG/YA books. They're easier to write! Plus the fact that they're more likely to get published. I'm sure that publishers are more willing to give the green light for an MG/YA novel than novels for adults. That's just the way it is. Money is the bottom line. And I think the bottom line is that MG/YA novels tend to sell better.
As for Second Chance? I don't intend it to be an MG/YA novel, but I think it could fit into that category. It's about football after all, and a lot of youngsters are into sports stories. There's no hard core adult material in it, so that wouldn't make it unsuitable for youngsters. I won't promote it as an MG/YA book, but who knows what a publisher might do? If I get a Big Six publisher to publish it, they can do whatever they want. And I wouldn't mind.
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