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[Rest]

I'm not the most prolific novel reader, but I read a few every year. I've been reading more lately, and it feels like I get halfway through most of them and I'm just waiting for the book to end. When I was younger, it seemed like the average novel was something like 350 pages. Now, i can't think of one I've read recently that was less than 400, most seem to weigh in at about 500, and many have balooned up to almost 1,000 pages. Most could really have some fat trimmed out, as they slow down in places, or get bogged down going over the same information multiple times. It feels like editors are not encouraging writers to finalize on lean, focused stories that take the reader on a journey without meandering.

 

[Dark Star]

This is how I feel when I read most Stephen King books. They're just so absurdly long and a total slog to get through. It took me ages to finish IT and The Stand, which are well over 1000 pages. That being said, I don't read too many new books, so I'm kind of out of touch when it comes to new stuff (last thing I read was All The Light We Cannot See, 2014, around 500 pages). I actually really enjoy short stories and creepypastas and stuff like that these days lol. But I've always enjoyed shorter novels, and shorter books that are part of series. Stuff like Brandon Sanderson's The Stormlight Archive comes to mind when dealing with lengthy stories. This is why stuff like YA fantasy-fiction like Harry Potter, or teen-scream horror like Goosebumps and Fear Street stuck with me growing up - short, sweet, and nicely arranged stories, though not exactly "epic" like those mentioned before.

 

[The Hamburglar]

I really want to get into those dark tower books. They seem daunting.

 

[Kagey K]

It's not even that they are getting longer, but they are auto signed to trilogies or Series before the first even hits.

So you can't just sit down and read a new book, because you are going to be expected to wait for the rest of the series before you get a satisfying conclusion.

It used to be wrote a book and if it does well write a sequel, ow everything has to be a series.

 

[Compsiox]

They need more space for the sjw content injection.

 

[Hotty Botty]

They need more space for the conservative Christian values content injection.

 

[GAMETA]

Hmm, I don't know man. There's always been all kinds of books.

Some classic literature pieces are huge.

 

[Scotty W]

Most of the classic early novels are around 1000 pages: Don Quixote, Clarissa, Tom Jones; then you have Dumas, Tolstoy, Dickens, Eliot...

Novels have been long since the beginning. That is not to say all of them are long-each of the authors above wrote shorter works- but you know.

 

[Squirrel Killer]

I think it goes in cycles. Earlier classic literature tended to be long because there wasn't many other forms of entertainment. Dicken's era literature was long because they were serializing it. Rowling got long because everyone was afraid to edit her. At least her and King are quick reads.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

When I was a kid, it seems most books were like 200-300 pages. Now yeah, it's like everything is trying to be the next tolkien.

 

[teezzy]

No?

Guess it depends what you're reading though. Lots of fantasy stuff seems fat and thick like my dong.

I really want to get into those dark tower books. They seem daunting.

They're so worth it though, breh.

 

[NahaNago]

I'm not sure anymore. I use to read a lot of fantasy like 20 years ago. Now I do remember older fantasy and scifi books were like around 200 pages in the 80s and early 90s but most of the books I believe I read were 300 and above in the early 2000s.

 

[SKM1]

I don't know.. I like long works of fiction. The last novel I read was Brothers Karamazov and it is really long. I also loved The Count of Monte Cristo, the whole Foundation series by Asimov and a Song of Ice and Fire. I should get back into fiction.

 

[-Arcadia-]

I like stories that last a while, that I can really lose myself in.

I would never want someone to artificially lengthen their story but something like Stephen King's JFK time-travel story, the name of which I am blanking on, I lived in that book for weeks. I drank every single lovingly-written detail. And when it was over, it really felt like leaving a whole world behind, that I'd been a part of for so long.

I like that effect from books, and stuff that goes shorter... I'm not sure I feel quite the same way.

 

[Grinchy]

I really want to get into those dark tower books. They seem daunting.

I'm finally finishing up the 4th book after putting it down and coming back to it multiple times for what may have been the past year.

The first book is tough to get through. The way people speak and the dream-like nature of it all makes it hard to read. It's not overly long, though (300ish pages? Going off memory). The 2nd book reeled me in since a lot of it took place in "present day America" which was in the 80s since that's when he was writing it. The 3rd book was still a lot of fun, but I wasn't thrilled with one aspect of it toward the end and for the beginning of the 4th book.

The 4th book is 800 pages. It starts out with one of the main characters telling the other characters that he's going to tell them a story. Then the rest of the book is that story. It's the reason it took me so long to get into it, but I finally did and it's really good. It's just a bit long.

Something like Under the Dome felt really easy to read despite being like 1100 pages in comparison.

 

[Hexa]

Kindle Unlimited books got longer after they started paying authors per page read. At this point it feels like most new books on there are forcefully padded to unbearable levels.

 

[bitbydeath]

It's not even that they are getting longer, but they are auto signed to trilogies or Series before the first even hits.

So you can't just sit down and read a new book, because you are going to be expected to wait for the rest of the series before you get a satisfying conclusion.

It used to be wrote a book and if it does well write a sequel, ow everything has to be a series.

That depends on how it's written. I'm writing a series but while I want it to leave you wanting more I'm writing it so each novel will have a satisfying conclusion.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

I don't know about novels, but my dick's been getting longer.

 

[bender]

I don't know about novels, but my dick's been getting longer.

 

[teezzy]

Mines actually shrinking but the hole is still huge

 

[bender]

Mines actually shrinking but the hole is still huge

I don't know about novels, but my dick's been getting longer.

Butthole?

 

[IDKFA]

It's just you and the books your choosing. I recently finished a sci-fi book called This is how you lose the time war.

the book clocks in at just over 200 pages and is a one and done story.

 

[Nico_D]

Honestly, it sometimes feels like writers think more pages equals more content.

The story and what you are trying to say is exactly as long as it has to be. Anything beyond that is amateurish and unwillingness to cut it down and stop writing.

Like what happened to Michael Douglas' character in Wonder Boys.

Fot example, Fellowship of the Rings would be better without Tom Bombadil. And I even like that part but still.

 

[BadBurger]

Novel length still seems mostly associated with the individual author to me. Some favor pumping out novellas or shorter books, some like having gargantuan stories being published every few years. Overall I haven't noticed a trend towards shorter or longer.

 

[Rest]

I really want to get into those dark tower books. They seem daunting.

You only need to read the first three.

 

[poppabk]

Not so much novels getting longer but series of books are.
Constantly see shit like:
'The Carrion Chronicles - Vultures of War Series - Volume 8'

 

[Phase]

There are a couple of problems with contemporary books. They're often unnecessarily long, as you mention, and the quality of writing is often poor. That's why I stick with older books. There's no shortage of quality, and they are much more intellectually engaging to me.

 

[Stouffers]

They're longer due to the increased font size because the primary demographic for books/novels is now octogenarians.

 

[isual]

40k books range from 370 to 500 pages and are quite dense.

i think it depends on the prose and level of vocabulary a book has, and how coherent the reader is in being able to thoroughly read the material.

dragonlance novels back in the early 2000s for me had about 300 pages, but the level of reading is not quite as dense.

 

[Meowzers]

PM me for the answer when this gets to page 20.

 

[Rest]

There are a couple of problems with contemporary books. They're often unnecessarily long, as you mention, and the quality of writing is often poor. That's why I stick with older books. There's no shortage of quality, and they are much more intellectually engaging to me.

There have always been bad books. Go to a library and pick up a random book. Nine times out of ten it will be trash. Just like every other medium.

 

[Tesseract]

need more deluded writers, space is teeming with minds who correspond w / institutional thinking

compression of thought should be encouraged wherever possible since constraint and limitation breed creativity, longer format is best left to masters with unyielding genius