One Minute Workshop: Story Length

     This month, I want to have a little chat about something that I see a lot being discussed in writers’ forums: story length.

A lot of new writers and authors seem to be obsessed with writing that great Magnum Opus. They want to produce a novel of 80,000, 100,000 words plus. There seems to be this misconception out there that this is what you should be writing because that is what people want. 

But what about what your story wants?

All too often writers get stuck in a rut because they feel that they have to fill a certain box for the sake of selling their work. This is a terrible way to approach writing! Writing is an art form and, as such, the writer should let the story develop at its own speed and into its own length. So, you might produce a huge epic novel, but you might instead produce a neat, sharply edited short story or even a piece of fifty words flash fiction. 

Don’t feel pressured into producing what others say “sells” or what people say is “popular”. Write from the heart, let the plot and characters speak for themselves and the story will flow easily, finding its own shape and form. 

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ASC.