Hi readers...and authors...


I'm curious what people think about ideal novel length?

Are they hoping for a story that NEVER ends? 

Or do they want a clear idea of the ending, and that the end means a concise plot and story?

What do you think about how long something should go? 

One of my stories I want to maybe go for as long as I can but one of others I'm still deciding it's fate.

It's important to know when to end a story and also end it in a satisfying fashion. If people still want more, then that just means you did a good job as an author.

Now naturally what I just said is incredibly vague and doesn't really help much, and that's also how it should be. There is no right or wrong way, and for casual slice of life stories you could even argue that you should just keep going for as long as you can. Wait, there is a wrong way to end a story, for instance if Lord of The Rings ended with a nuke being dropped out of nowhere for no reason. But yeah, you get what I mean.

There isn't an ideal. Well as far as I know online.

However overall, I think, this depends on the story. When writing, I would put more thought in less about audience in this aspect and more about the story itself. Some stories don't lend themselves to be very long while other do. Some could go on forever I suppose if they are set-up in that fashion while others do need to end or you risk dragging things on too long.

As for readers. Readers will read anything they like. Most are in it for a good story.

From a 50 pages short story to a 8 book saga, doesn't really matter as long as it's done well.

.....ok ...........walk away