How long should be a light novel book be? (In terms of word count)

ChronicleCrawler

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Hi! I'm wondering what is the usual word count of a quality light novel book. Does anyone have an idea? Thanks in advance.
 

Amarathia

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Well, for regular 1st novels in a series that is going to be published and printed into physical copies, certainly less than 100k words, a light novel should be closer to 40-60k. The thing is...if it's posted online, chapter by chapter, that completely changes everything.

'Light novels' online aren't necessary less words (often they are much more), they can span hundreds of thousands. I think the important thing is the story itself. I tend to stall/drop novels that drag on or get repetitive. And honestly, I feel that a lot of the really long online novels do reach this point. They take 1000 chapters to accomplish what they could have done in 500. For example, the same rehashed plot of 'Protagonist is OP defeats super evil villain' gets old unless there is other character growth and the characters themselves are entertaining. Similarly, if the story is a romance and there are constant misunderstandings, then the author seems to be stalling any changes for unnecessary fluff/baiting, I am also bored.

So for online light novels, it completely varies on the pace you want to take and the content of the story itself. If you keep throwing up interesting hurdles for the protagonist to jump over, then the readers will continue to be loyal followers, waiting with baited breath for the next chapter. That gives online writing a lot of possibilities because they have all the length they want to fully develop all the characters!
 

AliceShiki

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50k words is a good start for your first book~

Also, keep in mind that Light Novels is basically a genre exclusive to Japan and it is related to the choice of language and kanjis used by the author... It's not really a thing in the West.
 

Nerodith

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Uh, personally, rather than the word count, I feel like it's more about the writing style ? Little to no descriptions at all, and lots of dialogue for example ? It often feels very minimalist and thus, the quality of the book entirely depends on the plot.
(Though it is true it does affect the word count ultimately)
 

TLCsDestiny

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Write your book first, then call it something. If you want to keep it 'light', you may just not write it probably and completely wreck it.
 

CupcakeNinja

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Hi! I'm wondering what is the usual word count of a quality light novel book. Does anyone have an idea? Thanks in advance.
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well my story has a bit over 80 chapters total. With an average of 2k words per chapter, sometimes up to 6-9k or rarely as low as 1,900k less....i have AT MINIMUM 160k words, very likely upwards of 200k words total. I feel most book dont have as many chapters so around 100k is likely the sweet spot.
 

A.P.R.L.

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Japanese light novels, when translated, can range from around 40k (Familiar of Zero), 60k (Re:Zero) and even 70k (Spice & Wolf). But considering they come in volumes and they can reach a number as high as 30 volumes (or more) the word count becomes increasingly higher and higher.

Then you have webnovels, that can reach 1M words alone. A western novel though usually has around 100k-150k words, or a little more.

Edit: I investigated better. A western novel has around 90k-100k words or more. Few novels reach the amazing quantity of 150k words.
 

Ddraig

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Light novels dont really have a set length, here is an example that is probably close to the upper limit.

All 29 main volumes of Horizon in the middle of nowhere. This does not include any of the side stroy volumes. Here is the ongoing translation https://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/...no_Horizon_-_Kimitoasamade_by_Kawakami_Minoru

As you can see even the books of the same series are not of similar length everytime.

Then there are others like Toaru series, Problem children and dxd who are split into two series, a prequel and a sequel which result in absurd amount of books with almost all of the volumes close to the length of a normal book.

Check out this webpage too, and also the comments there for a better idea https://kuuderesshadow.wordpress.co...lume-count-with-volumes-out-in-the-past-year/

I cant verify this but I think the only ln beating Horizon by the page count is Guin saga with an absurd ~130 volumes
 
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Ddraig

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probably shorter than the title itself
As of 2014, the longest title is 54 characters long, which is infact shorter than the contents inside the book by a good margin.
 
D

Deleted member 22388

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Light novels dont really have a set length, here is an example that is probably close to the upper limit.

All 29 main volumes of Horizon in the middle of nowhere. This does not include any of the side stroy volumes. Here is the ongoing translation https://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/...no_Horizon_-_Kimitoasamade_by_Kawakami_Minoru

As you can see even the books of the same series are not of similar length everytime.

Then there are others like Toaru series, Problem children and dxd who are split into two series, a prequel and a sequel which result in absurd amount of books with almost all of the volumes close to the length of a normal book.

Check out this webpage too, and also the comments there for a better idea https://kuuderesshadow.wordpress.co...lume-count-with-volumes-out-in-the-past-year/

I cant verify this but I think the only ln beating Horizon by the page count is Guin saga with an absurd ~130 volumes

Um... gulp*
Just a confirmation, is that a real Japanese Light Novel(raw)?
 
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As of 2014, the longest title is 54 characters long, which is infact shorter than the contents inside the book by a good margin.

they really need to step up their own game at 2020 :D
 
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