Familiar to many writers, speeding past that tilt point between ‘oh god this book is going to run short’ to ‘oh Christ this is going to be way too long.’

Then comes the point where you look for a suitable break point to start a series.

Tell your publisher the last one was shorter than the two previous ones so you get a novella length extra.

Does this now flow into “so this might lead to an additional book?” and then the dance starts all over again? So the original trilogy ends up being 5 books. Or if you’re Robert Jordan then..

My first novel definitely felt like that. My current one is feeling way more balanced, but that might be because I have a better idea of where it's going 🤔

Me, every time I start "just a little short"

th novel is never really done but a short story has to be. Andre Dubus used to cut 75000 words into 9

Riding that terrifying knife's edge

Each chapter my entire book length swings from 80,000 words to 150,000 with no in between