Patrick Mahon
Would-be author
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2006
- Messages
- 532
Re: Ask your publishing questions here
John,
Could I ask two questions in response to this? First, I'd be really interested if you could expand on what you mean by 'depth'. Do you mean 'not superficial', or something else? And second, do you have any personal guidelines on the length of first novels? Is it something you worry about in general (i.e. if a submission seems to be unusually long or short), or do you judge a book's length purely in terms of whether it is right for the story being told?
I ask the latter question purely because it seems to me that there's a trend towards longer fantasy novels, which is a bit depressing for those of us who are slow writers!
Thanks very much in advance for any advice you can offer.
John Jarrold said:I was looking for well written, gripping novels with involving characters, wonderful settings and depth, when I looked at the fantasy field.
John,
Could I ask two questions in response to this? First, I'd be really interested if you could expand on what you mean by 'depth'. Do you mean 'not superficial', or something else? And second, do you have any personal guidelines on the length of first novels? Is it something you worry about in general (i.e. if a submission seems to be unusually long or short), or do you judge a book's length purely in terms of whether it is right for the story being told?
I ask the latter question purely because it seems to me that there's a trend towards longer fantasy novels, which is a bit depressing for those of us who are slow writers!
Thanks very much in advance for any advice you can offer.