Why genre makes a difference when you're planning a novel

How long should a book be? Does it really matter? Can you really use genre conventions and word counts to plan your project?

Hoping that our books will one day appear on a shelf is a huge motivation when we’re working on the thornier stages of a novel. Knowing which shelf it belongs on is a whole other story.

If you’re like me, you’ll have asked yourself the question ‘How long should my novel be?’ a number of times, probably far earlier in the process than you need to, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. When it comes to planning, I need super clear, actionable targets, and although aiming for a word count each day is only a tiny part of what it takes to finish a manuscript, it can help you eat the elephant. Or extra large doughnut. Or cheese board. Or whatever food-based incentive you tend to go for.

This is why having a good awareness of genre requirements can help. Are they the be all and end all of a book’s success? Absolutely not, but in those loosey-goosey early stages of project planning, finding something empirical to tether our efforts to can keep us afloat, especially when the writing seas get a little rough. Here’s how figuring out where your story sits can help.