The title really says it all, doesn’t it?

Well, maybe I should elaborate a bit. I’ve been plugging away at Blueblood: I’m not moving as fast as I’d maybe like, but still going. I’m at about the 65,000-word mark now; conventional wisdom in today’s market says a sci-fi novel should be about 100,000 words, maybe 120,000. For the most part, publishers won’t go far above that for an inexperienced writer. Only the established names, with proven sales, get more slack in terms of word count.

Now, that isn’t an ironclad rule, of course. When I sat in on that short seminar with a literary agent during Can-Con, she said she’d sold debut novels much longer than that. There are debut novels, and second or third novels from inexperienced writers, that get up there in length. It’s just, if your book is in that sweet spot length-wise—again, between about 90,000 and 120,000 for sci-fi and fantasy—you’re more likely to get a good response.

Well, Blueblood is goanna be longer than that. No, not just longer: it’s goanna blow that mark out of the water. As of right now, it could easily double that length: when all is said and done, this sucker might even catch A Game of Thrones in terms of word count.

This has made me question a few things when it comes to this book. Does the story justify the length? As of now, I still think it does. But is there a way to split the story up into multiple books? Maybe make it into a trilogy? I do sort of have the story mapped out in three distinct phases in my mind: however, the character arcs for my three main viewpoints won’t really be satisfying at all if I cut things off at the end of Act 1.

One option could be rewrites. I could try and rework the plot a bit, expand a few elements of Act 1, turn that into its own book. But would that serve the story? Is what I have in Act 1 even worth expanding? Or would that just turn this potential part 1 of the Blueblood Trilogy into a bloated, boring mess?

I’m also a little concerned about the length just in abstract. These last few years have hammered into me the idea that a book should not be longer than 120,000 words without a very good reason. If it’s significantly longer, you should split it. But, I mean, lots of my favourite books are way past that mark. I know it’s possible to write a great story over 200,000, or even over 300,000 words long.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m overthinking it. Maybe I should just focus on getting the damn draft done and worry about all this later. After all, the odds that Blueblood will be my first novel in any case are low. I have several other books written, all of which are closer to that sweet spot (and some of which, including Nightmares Inc. and The Ravage, are right in that sweet spot). I could write the draft, move on to other projects, and maybe take Blueblood out and try to edit it down once I’m more established.

(If I ever get more established. I shouldn’t get cocky here. It’s not a guarantee for anyone in my position.)

All I really know at this point is I have a story I want to tell. I think it’s a good story. An exciting story. Figuring out some of the intricacies of this one has been tough—it’s the first time I’ve tried to write a book with multiple interweaving POVs—but I think I’m getting there.

And hey, there’s always editing I can do later. Rewriting. Polishing. All that. Plus, even if this thing never sees publication—which honestly is the most likely outcome, let’s be real here—then at least I’ve had fun with it. That’s the most important thing.

But we’ll see how that all shakes out. As always, time will tell. That’s all I’ve got for you today. Until next time, have fun, stay safe, keep reading.