How Important is Word Count?

     The subject of word count is important to an unpublished novelist. And remember, we're talking manuscript word count here. The publisher will translate word count from manuscript to printed book. But, how important is word count?
     I think word count is something to consider while a book is still in the planning stage. You don't plan? You just write? Even then, an author must (and I use the word must advisedly) give some thought to word count. Notice I don't say, he must adhere to any suggested word count formula. I do say, he must give some thought to word count.
     That sounds a bit ambiguous? Well, to clarify, I suggest that any author would not want to spend thousands of solitary hours (maybe years) in front of his computer pouring his heart into a novel, then be told by the first agent he submits his work to that the story is too long.
     That happened to me.
     I could have taken the prize for Newbie of the Century. I knew nothing about writing, except that I wanted to do it, and I had a story to tell. And, yes, I often awoke in the middle of the night, toiled over my novel from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m., grabbed another hour of sleep, then got up and went to work, came home, toiled for a couple of hours, went to bed, then got up again in the middle of the night ... for almost a year. When my novel was complete, I started querying agents (always including the page count: 126,000 words). One or two encouraged me by asking to read a few chapters. Then, one day, an east coast agent asked me to submit the complete manuscript. A month later, I received a heart-stopping two-page letter from the agent who said, "Your story is so close to being wonderful that I'm almost considering going against our agency's policy and taking on your book as-is, but . . ."
     Take a deep breath here.
     In the next paragraph or two of that heady letter, the agent told me 126,000 words was much longer than any publisher would consider from a previously unpublished author, and for my novel to be considered, it would have to be shaved to a maximum of 90,000 words. 
     Can't do the math?
     I had to cut 36,000 words from my manuscript. But how?
     The agent gave me the formula. Cut anything that does not: (1) move the plot forward or (2) develop character.
     That's just great. Remember, I said I was a newbie in the writing arena. How green was I? I was so green, the EPA could have used me as its poster child.
     What is moving plot forward? What develops character? Hmmmm, I thought for one nanosecond, maybe I ought to step back and take a look at what this thing is that everyone calls craft.
     I didn't.
     I was too thrilled that an agent was about to sign me up and would get my book published to do anything sensible like studying the craft of writing. Certainly I wasn't going to try to find out how to give myself a better chance at this game. Oh, and one other thing, this was the early 1990's. The Internet was as new a word and concept to the general public as was the word freeway in the 1950's. My gosh, I was writing on a computer that had a green screen (pre-Windows), used 5-inch floppy disks (and they really were flexible), and had a huge 20 megabyte hard drive. (OMG, I have a flash drive that's triple that size.) I mean, if this happened today, an author could glean mountains of ideas and suggestions and expert advice about this and any other subject on the Internet.
     But this was the 90's. So, I started cutting. And I did wind up with a novel that maxed out at 85,000 words. But it wasn't the same story. I'd cut one character out entirely. But I'd slashed so deeply into the characters' hearts and minds, the story was left with a lifeless narrative and dialogue that made no sense. The smaller manuscript was resoundingly rejected. 
     And that brings me back to the dilemma and oft-asked question: how important is word count?
     My answer: It might not be important at all.
     Oh brother, you're probably saying. That's a big help.
     Well, here's my assessment of the word count dilemma. If your prose is so beautiful and your plot so intriguing and unusual and your characters so fully developed that an agent or publisher cannot resist your novel, then the manuscript's word count is truly unimportant. If, on the other hand, you've not mastered the craft of writing and your plot is humdrum and not at all unusual and your characters are cardboard cutouts, then word count might be ... well, even then, word count is unimportant.
     But if you still want to add word count to your list of things to adhere to, then go to the websites of a variety of agents and publishers and check out writing competitions (like AWP) and review their submission requirements. Each will give minimums and maximums for different genre. Example: many say an average novel contains 60,000 to 80,000 words. The average mystery maxes out at 65,000; the average thriller at 80,000 to 90,000; while category romance maxes at 55,000; sci-fi and fantasy at 130,000. That AWP competition, by the way, defines a book length novel as containing at least 60,000 words.
     Remember, these are guidelines.
     But you know what I find interesting? As a newbie, all my novels were long, long, long. Today, seventeen years after I first took up writing fiction, I have a hard time maxing out a novel at the minimum word count for my genre. Go figure.