Under Cover

W ord count is the almighty criteria by which any book will be deemed finished or worthy of publishing by an agent or book company. At least that’s what a lot of writers think. The word count criteria is important, but it’s not a strict defined limit as either too few or too many words as many seem to understand it. Word count is a bit more critical for a first-time author to a publishing company than the cagy veteran since word count is the quickest way of gauging the understanding of the writing process and coming within a range shows that your manuscript may have the right ingredients to bake a nice soft batch of cookies. Now I’m hungry. What if I’m going to self-publish? If you self-publish you don’t have to live under the fear of rejection due to a book that is too short or long. However, be mindful that word count guidelines exist for a reason. Readers have an expectation of length based on the genre of book they are interested in. Word count guidelines have come through ge...

 T he short answer to this question is yes, but also no. For your story to flow traditionally and entertain your reader it should generally follow the traditional method that is known as the Freytag Pyramid. It may sound rigid, but this flow of parts is used in nearly every book, movie, and television show and once you begin to relate this to media you know it will become clear that this is the expectation of readers. That being said, there is no hard rule that says you can’t move this around or even throw it out the window completely. It’s worth noting that in viewing this graphic that the lines representing the parts of the pyramid are not to scale with how long the parts of the plot should be. Some aspects might vary from story to story, and you shouldn’t view the Freytag Pyramid as a rigid structure that you are bound by with your plot.  The first part of the pyramid is the exposition . This is where we are introduced to the story, characters, setting, and begin to see how...