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Showing posts from September, 2009

Word Count Worries?

I've been writing screenplays for awhile and I've got page count down. Stay around 120 pages for drama features, 90 pages for thrillers, action/adventure, and comedies (romantic or otherwise), 55 for TV drama scripts, 30 for sitcoms. More or less. Preferably less. But I'm changing my focus to writing kiddy lit, so I was thrilled to see a recent Writer's Digest blog about word count for novels and children's literature . The areas I'm working on now are picture books and a YA novel. The advice given for picture books is under 500 words. There I'm okay. Most of the picture books I've written so far are usually under 200 words. I am writing for the toddler crowd, so there's little need for much plot. What's the conflict in Goodnight Moon ? Bunny delays bedtime by saying good night too much. What really counts is how to use those precious few words, building rhythm and a sense of satisfaction at the end. The YA novel is more complicated. Word c