How many words is a typical trek novel?

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

I'm here in my office, about to go home and sleep (it's 2 am local), and I'm writing this monumental MS thesis. I'm just curious how it stacks up to a trek novel in terms of total words. I'm currently approaching 23,000 words, if Word is to be trusted, although a little of that's no doubt my tables and figure captions, which don't really count. I'm currently in that sleep-deprived, mildly manic, "why didn't I go into something easier, like brick-laying" stage of my degree.

It's probably not long before I start doing this:

 

[Rosalind]

Have you got to suicidal stage yet? if not, then there's still hope left. if yes, well, just keep on going and you'll get pass it. (speaking as someone with experience)

and theses are never finished, they are abandoned, so said my supervisor.

and I have no idea how many words I've got in mine, since I work with LaTeX and multiple files.

oh, average Trek book size... someone else can answer that.

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

Have you got to suicidal stage yet? if not, then there's still hope left.

Give me a week.

My committee wanted it last Friday, but the analysis pushed me back. I'm hoping to get it done Wednesday night. Thursday is my birthday and I really, really want to take a day off.

 

[Rosalind]

I handed mine in (to the university) on time, but I know what you mean by birthday and such. I wanted to work on mine on my birthday, cos it was more than a month after my supervisor wanted me to finish, and less than a month before it was the university's deadline. luckily, I got dragged out to my birthday party on the day, it didn't help with getting any work done, but I did have a good and relaxing day.

 

[BrotherBenny]

A typical trek novel is about 100,000 words long, but KRAD will be along shortly with a list of those that are longer (and substantially shorter).

 

[William Leisner]

A novel, per the SFWA, is over 40,000 words. The "short novels" in the MU and MyrU collections were in the 50,000 word range, and "full" novels can be 65-100 K or more.

Your 23,000 words would put you at about the typical length of a Corps of Engineers novella. (Again, expect KRAD to be along shortly with his charts and graphs...)

 

[TerriO]

He's still asleep. Let me see if I can try to fill in for a minute....

As Bill said, 40K is the lower limit for a novel per SFWA standards. I've done a short novel in the 50K range, but from what I've seen in Trek and other publishers, most full novels are in the 85-100K range these days. I'm expecting to hear back on a non-Trek tie-in novel proposal next week that, if it flies, will be solidly in the 85-100K range. The original novel I'm working on right now is in the 40s, working toward 85K.

Figure in the 85K-100K range for a novel just across the board (although some are shorter, I will say that), and you're in a good ballpark figure.

The MTV generation's short-attention-span is growing longer, I guess.

 

[Christopher]

Let's see. A, typical, Trek, novel. Four words!


As a rule, my Trek novel contracts have specified either 80-85,000 or 100,000 words as the target length, except for MyrU, which specified 50,000. In actual practice I've pretty much always gone over the target; I think my longest was The Buried Age at 130K.

 

[TerriO]

Thank you for backing me up on that, Christopher.

*thwaps for the attempt at comedy*

 

[Osquevel]

and theses are never finished, they are abandoned, so said my supervisor.

Hehe. My undergraduate advisor said the same thing.

and I have no idea how many words I've got in mine, since I work with LaTeX and multiple files.

I know it's completely off-topic, but I LaTeX. Er, right. Anyway... Good to know about the progression, since I'm just starting my MS/Ph.D program.

The MTV generation's short-attention-span is growing longer, I guess.

Well, I remember about 10 years ago when the guidelines specified about 70k words as the standard length (back during the "numbered" era) and that number has steadily grown; perhaps not coincidentally with the decline and fall of numbered novels.

I personally prefer the longer works -- gives one something to sink their teeth into a little more; to get more invested in the characters and the situation.

 

[JoeZhang]

The longest thing I ever wrote was my PhD thesis which was 94,245 words long.

 

[Mistral]

The typical Trek novel is about 40 words long. The rest is just filler.

 

[Christopher]

The typical Trek novel is about 40 words long.

And on average, five of them are "stygian."

 

[TerriO]

The typical Trek novel is about 40 words long. The rest is just filler.

Well, those are just KRAD's books, to tell the truth.

 

[PaulSimpson]

The typical Trek novel is about 40 words long. The rest is just filler.

Well, those are just KRAD's books, to tell the truth.

He's not woken up yet has he?!

 

[Osquevel]

The typical Trek novel is about 40 words long.

And on average, five of them are "stygian."

That just made my day.

 

[KRAD]

The typical Trek novel is about 40 words long. The rest is just filler.

Well, those are just KRAD's books, to tell the truth.

HEY!!!!!!



Since folks seem to think I should do this, here is a list of some novels that I happen to have the manuscript files for and can therefore do an approximate word count. I emphasize approximate because a) this is how Microsoft Word counts it and b) many of these are unedited first drafts. But they're all in the ballpark, at the very least. I also didn't bother including anything from Mirror Universe, Myriad Universes, or Worlds of DS9, as those were specifically contracted to be 50K.

A Burning House: 95,000
A Singular Destiny: 87,500
A Time to Sow: 76,000
A Time to Harvest: 85,000
A Time to Love: 77,000
A Time to Hate: 70,000
A Time to Kill: 72,000
A Time to Heal: 82,000
A Time for War, a Time for Peace: 89,000
Articles of the Federation: 104,000
The Brave and the Bold Book 1: 60,000
The Brave and the Bold Book 2: 78,000
Burning Dreams: 102,000
The Case of the Colonist's Corpse: 79,000
Destiny: Gods of Night: 96,000
Destiny: Mere Mortals: 100,000
Destiny: Lost Souls: 107,000
Diplomatic Implausibility: 65,000
Engines of Destiny: 90,000
Errand of Fury: Seeds of Rage: 73,000
Errand of Fury: Demands of Honor: 76,000
Errand of Fury: Sacrifices of War: 72,000
Full Circle: 133,000
Garth of Izar: 63,000
Gateways: Demons of Air and Darkness: 70,000
Gateways: Doors Into Chaos: 77,000
Gemini: 76,000
Greater than the Sum: 80,000
I.K.S. Gorkon: A Good Day to Die: 69,000
I.K.S. Gorkon: Honor Bound: 60,000
I.K.S. Gorkon: Enemy Territory: 80,000
Lost Era: The Art of the Impossible: 100,000
Lost Era: Deny Thy Father: 125,000
Over a Torrent Sea: 89,000
Q & A: 68,000
Rihannsu: The Empty Chair: 133,000
Vulcan's Soul: Exiles: 87,000
Vulcan's Soul: Epiphany: 100,000


So anywhere between 60,000 and 133,000. Plus there are outliers like David R. George III, who routinely shatters word-count records.

 

[Mistral]

So glad to see you're awake, KRAD!

 

[TerriO]

The typical Trek novel is about 40 words long. The rest is just filler.

Well, those are just KRAD's books, to tell the truth.

He's not woken up yet has he?!

Actually, yes, but I'm about 17 km from where he is right now.

 

[Geoff Thorne]

I'm here in my office, about to go home and sleep (it's 2 am local), and I'm writing this monumental MS thesis. I'm just curious how it stacks up to a trek novel in terms of total words. I'm currently approaching 23,000 words, if Word is to be trusted, although a little of that's no doubt my tables and figure captions, which don't really count. I'm currently in that sleep-deprived, mildly manic, "why didn't I go into something easier, like brick-laying" stage of my degree.

It's probably not long before I start doing this:

I never made it without biting. You'll have to ask Mr. Owl.