How Long is the Ideal Mystery Book?

When I first outlined The Moonwitch, I thought the answer was 85,000 words. See the nifty bar graphic on the bottom there? Yup, that’s the one. I thought that would be a good first target, knowing that things would be off slightly. Shade City was planned to be 75-80k and clocked in at 88,000, so I thought I was estimating things pretty good.

Well, here’s the progress of my first draft:

The Moonwitch Wordcount [wppb progress=78316/85000 percent=inside]

And I still got a few chapters left. I’m thinking, 2 weeks from now the Seventh Sons sequel will weigh in at about 105,000 words. I actually think that’s a great length for detective novels. I’m sure many would clamor for another twenty thousand, but maybe I’ll hold that off for book 3.

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