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from the publishing side, that is.
So question, friendslist:
What lengths do publishing houses who deal in mystery look for? I mean with Spec Fic the lengths of first novels have kind of eased down a bit so you're looking at books that are sorta 100k at the most sorta.
Are there these sorts of lengths associated with mystery? how short can the book be, and how long can the book be? does it depend on sub-genre?
(the elf thing isn't stirring. i've got an idea for a mystery instead.)
I've got an idea, but I don't know how long it's going to be. I've got no idea, really. but I tend to drastically overestimate how much MS space I'm going to need to tell a story, so I'm worried that I'll get to "the end" and it'll be bitty and wee. too short to properly be considered a novel, in fact, but too long by far to be a novella.
so I'm looking for the "sigh of relief" minimum length and the top end, if there is one.
And, if one writes a mystery novel of suffient quality to be shared with many people, is one locked into the series concept? most of the mysteries I have are series, with the same protagonist (Kinsey Milhone, V. I. Warshawski, Kay Scarpetta) and those novels that aren't in a series seem to be more in the suspense line.
So question, friendslist:
What lengths do publishing houses who deal in mystery look for? I mean with Spec Fic the lengths of first novels have kind of eased down a bit so you're looking at books that are sorta 100k at the most sorta.
Are there these sorts of lengths associated with mystery? how short can the book be, and how long can the book be? does it depend on sub-genre?
(the elf thing isn't stirring. i've got an idea for a mystery instead.)
I've got an idea, but I don't know how long it's going to be. I've got no idea, really. but I tend to drastically overestimate how much MS space I'm going to need to tell a story, so I'm worried that I'll get to "the end" and it'll be bitty and wee. too short to properly be considered a novel, in fact, but too long by far to be a novella.
so I'm looking for the "sigh of relief" minimum length and the top end, if there is one.
And, if one writes a mystery novel of suffient quality to be shared with many people, is one locked into the series concept? most of the mysteries I have are series, with the same protagonist (Kinsey Milhone, V. I. Warshawski, Kay Scarpetta) and those novels that aren't in a series seem to be more in the suspense line.
