I recently received some advice about the length of a manuscript from an industry professional. She suggested that my novel, clocking in at just over 60k words, is about 40k words too short for my genre and demographics.

I was stunned, to say the least. 40,000 words! That's most of a NaNoWriMo goal, that's a whole other novella added to my existing manuscript, that's more than a few months of work. But most importantly to me, it seems that 40,000 words are more then a little unnecessary.

Now don't misunderstand me, I am not saying that my novel is perfect or even suggesting that something couldn't be added. But also understand that this particular story has been told. There is a clear, beginning, middle and ending with a resolution of the problems at hand.

So what's an author to do? Do I jump headlong into basically creating another novel entirely or ignore the advice and give this agent the proverbial finger?

Well, both...and neither. It seems unlikely this book will ever be 100,000 words for one simple reason. The creator (me) has deemed it such. But to ignore advice from someone who knows what they are talking about seems like a fool's errand. Instead, I will take her advice to heart and focus on more world building to fully flush out this new environment I've created. I will also take some time to make sure that the reader has a sense of forward motion, even if nothing is happening.

Will I end up with 40,000 more words? Most likely not. But will my book be improved because of this advice I received? Absolutely. And that's what's most important. When it comes to your own work, remember that suggestions and advice are always good to have but that you are always the final word.

Happy Writing!