My writing too short...?

Question

Okay, so this is the story.

In my spare time I like writing, and to this date I have written four books, strictly for personal enjoyment. Still, nonetheless, I'm unsatasfied with the fact that they only end up being between the 20,000-25,000 word range, which is roughly over a hundred pages.

So, I've gone through each chapter, and edited it until I'm content, but still, they remain to be short books.

But, I don't want to drowned them with adjectives, because it can ruin the story if you do that.

And, I don't want to add any more scenes too it, because it would just mess up my timeline.

Is this odd?

Any suggestions?

Thanks.'

-CayleeJo

Answer 1

     All you can do is to tell the story.  If it turns out shorter than you expected, so what?  If you try to lengthen it, you could ruin it.  You're quite right about not wanting to drown in adjectives.  That's very true, and a mistake a lot of people make.  I'm sure your stories are very good.  Leave them alone!  There are markets out there for any length of story.  One thing it's not, is odd!  You've simply written a story.  No more, no less.

Very good luck

Mike B

Answer 2

Well I don't suggest fluffing up, because then it'll be all describe-y and turn readers off when you drown them in a sea of adjectives. (Nobody want to read the second paragraph in a book when it's all about the wonderful yellow speckles in the green eyes of the main character, do they?)

Over one hundred pages is still considered a novel, not a novella. Plus, Word pages are a considerable amount larger than regular book paper, so if your story was a printed book it would be longer.

As long as you're happy with your story, and you've said all you want to, don't worry about it a bit. The art of using few words to adequately describe and express yourself is an art-form, in my opinion. Nobody said that books have to be excessively long to be good. Take Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit, for example: Great book, almost a classic, one of my favorites and only about 130 pages.

Good luck!