The last two books I read were too long. They felt like they went on and on and…. But the question is, what made them too long? I personally don’t like really long books as a general rule. The only time I do is when I’m so involved in the story that I want it to keep going. That’s how I felt when I read 11/22/63. I was so involved with the story and the characters, I felt like I was there. That RARELY happens with most books I read. That doesn’t mean they aren’t good books, they just don’t have what a Stephen King novel has.
The two books I read were too long for different reasons. The first one was too long because it described EVERYTHING. And I mean that literally. I won’t go into too much detail because I don’t want anyone to know the book I’m talking about, but there were times when I had to skim over the details. It was a great story. There was just too much of it. (So Susan, don’t give me too hard of a time about describing food. At least that’s interesting to SOME people. LOL.) But, seriously, this story could have been shorter and would have still been good. I hate it when I’m checking the percentage read on my Kindle constantly to see if I’m almost done with it.
The second story was too long because things kept happening that I didn’t think were necessary. The characters had too much conflict in too many different situations. And the situations were too drawn out. Just when you thought things were coming to a close, something else would happen. And that’s okay for awhile, but it made the book soooo long, much longer than it needed to be.
I do want to mention that both of these books have good reviews. So apparently not everyone feels the way I do. I know a lot of people like long books, but I’m not one of them…unless the book NEEDS to be long to tell the story. I just see too much word padding and scene padding that seems it’s just to make a book longer.
How do you guys feel about this? Have you read books that seemed to go on forever? Do you like long books, short books, or does it depend on how much time you have? I really would love to hear what you think.
lauralynnelliott.com 
If the writing is good then a long book won’t really seem all that long. I know what you mean though. I don’t want a book to be long just for the sake of being a long book.
Exactly, Anya.
I think books are too long when there is some aspect of craft that author just isn’t getting. The info dumps when sequels run too long. Excessive exposition. Complicatitis instead of logical plot progression and resolution. There are things I used to tolerate before I learned about them myself that now I find annoying me. Everything in a book SHOULD in some way move the plot forward or illustrate something about the characters. That may or may not be immediately obvious to the reader, but I think everything put in should be intentional. So if you’re putting in detailed description of what people are eating, there should be a purpose for that. The way they describe tastes and textures would say something about whether food mattered to them, whether they led the kind of life where they could taste a bite of mushroom soup and say “oh that’s mushroom” or “oh those are nice morrels” or “what is this crap?” Each of those responses would say something about the character, so that’s cool. Going on and on beyond that kind of thing in lieu of plot would just be unnecessary gustatory stimulation. 🙂
I was kind of kidding Susan about the food. LOL The descriptions in this book were about everything. I knew the color and model of every car every person drove. Stuff like that. It got boring. And the other story got boring. It’s not just about things other writers should notice…it was just…well…boring. You know how forgiving I am about books. All I ask is that they entertain me. Books like the ones I’m talking about entertain me for awhile, but then I get antsy and want them to end.
I have read some long books lately and I did keep checking the percentage on my Kindle – not a good sign.
Stephen King’s The Stand is one of the longest books I’ve ever read but I love it. The characters, the story, the setting and plot are excellent, so I’m glad I got to spend awhile reading it, but with some books, I feel like the author has a word count they’ve told themselves they had to reach. As a result, the book could be 10,000 words too long, containing padding and fluff that simply drags the story down.
I tend to write too little description (except, obviously about food) rather than too much. I’ve been called on that before. But I’m so scared of boring my readers. And I’ve written books shorter than I wanted to because I DIDN’T want to pad it. It is what it’s going to be. I almost dread reading through Soul of a Vampire when I’m finished because I’m afraid there’s too much of something. LOL.
Well, I love food descriptions. Good luck with the read through but I’m sure it will be great!
I like a tight book. If all the bits matter, then the length doesn’t. A shorter book that didn’t get properly fleshed out and feels hollow isn’t good, but neither is a longer, “standard” length book with inconsequential detail or other stuff that feels like filler. I think the latter bothers me more just because of the time investment.
Enriching a story with detail is good, but it has to matter. It has to tell us more than just what it tells us. I just read something where the author tried to set each scene by including what the POV character could smell. Sometimes it added, but usually it was just useless detail (in a story with a LOT of detail). Telling us a room smells musty tells us it’s been closed off, unused, can give us a sense of abandonment, neglect, or secrecy. Telling us it smells like the ocean when we just came in off the beach doesn’t give us as much information. And that example on its own would be fine, but when it’s a whole book full of detail for detail’s sake, where you’re trying to remember everything mentioned in case it’s important later…it becomes excessive pretty quickly.
That’s the problem I have with food for food’s sake. When the food doesn’t tell us anything more about the characters or the story, especially when it’s there just because people eat and it’s what the characters would do next, that makes me crazy. Too often I think dining scenes substitute for action the way some romance novels use annoying bickering as a substitute for actual conflict. People’s food choices or the way they experience food can tell us things about them, but that’s not usually what the scenes are for. There are lots of dining scenes on TV, but they’re rarely about the food. They’re about the characters, what they say and don’t say, the looks passing between them, what’s going on around them. Usually, if they started talking about tastes or textures, or if the camera started zooming in on the food, it would be weird and intrusive. If it would be intrusive on film, there’s a decent chance it will be intrusive on the page.
You’re the one who made me stop writing so much about food. I love to read about food in books, I even get aggravated when food is briefly mentioned because I want to know MORE about it. But that doesn’t mean everyone does. So I’m trying to obey you. LOL. But the book I’m talking about describes every little thing. In detail. Everything. Stuff that doesn’t matter at ALL. You would just have to read it to know what I mean.
I think it’s the time investment for me, too. I read a lot, and I want to be able to read MORE. If I spend time on a book, I want all the stuff to matter. A short piece that rushes things through (a habit I had to get out of myself) doesn’t bother me so much if I have fun reading it.
You know, an honest intention toward obedience is all I can ask. 🙂
But, of course!
I think you should write a mystery with a food critic as the main character. Just think of how delicious that could be!
One reason why long books seem to drag may simply be that they are not maintaining the suspense for the duration. I made the mistake of reading (forcing myself to read) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo AFTER seeing the movie. It killed the suspense to do it in that order, so I groaned through the pages.
I’ve seriously thought about writing a mystery with the main character as some kind of food related person. Diane Mott Davidson does it well with Goldy Bear Catering. 🙂
These books just stopped being entertaining. I think the best example of a book that had stuff in it that didn’t need to be there was Les Miserables. LOL But the play was great!
Did you say food? Lol
Okay. You are not alone. While I love a long novel – the story, for me, cannot be lengthened by the overuse of drama that serves no purpose other than to keep the hero/heroine separated or running away. It drives me bonkers!!!!
I recently read a beautiful novel – with great backstory on both the hero and heroine – solid structure – wonderful dialogue…but if one more ridiculous event caused the heroine to run away (all in the name of ‘doing what she deemed best for them both’ – I thought I’d tear my hair out…ha!)
That being said, I did enjoy the novel. And from what I gather, many readers love the drama. Not that I don’t like a smattering of drama…ha! It’s a fine line. To hit that ‘sweet spot’ of tension…Well! Here’s to it!
Description is another balancing act. I’ve never enjoyed Tolkien (Although Sir Gawain And The Green Knight was a fantastic read) for this reason. He describes each blade of grass! It’s overkill to my senses and feels like an interruption in the story at times. My sister hails him as hero! I’m more of a Twain fan. While he employs vivid description, I find it woven amidst the story and, often, entertaining and laugh worthy. (Seriously, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is downright amusing! Excerpts From Adam’s Diary is laugh-out-loud hysterical!)
On the positive side, I am currently reading Ride The Wind, Lucia St. Clair Robson. This is a tome – but at 79% complete, I remain invested in each and every page! That is good storytelling!
In the second book I was talking about, I felt like the heroine was pushing away the hero over and over for stupid reasons.
It’s been so long since I’ve read Tolkien, I don’t even remember the descriptions. LOL. But you’re right, it’s a balancing act, and it’s hard to do it well.
I just finished listening to Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It was long, but it was SO good. Didn’t I see that you marked it to read on Goodreads?
And…ahem, I seem to have written a tome, myself! Is it too descriptive? Did I drone on and on and….? Hahaha! *smiles impishly* Have a great day, Lauralynn!
Oh what a tome, Nadja! I could barely stand to read it! Hahahahahahaha.
This just reminds me of an Alice in Wonderland quote:
“Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s never that simple, but I definitely can feel you on “too long” syndrome in books. I can’t even count how many times I’ve said in a review that I think a book would be significantly better if it was cut in half length-wise. Sometimes, I do love a sprawling story. The Song of Ice and Fire books are a good example, but even those I feel some chapters feel unnecessary or long-winded, and I’m a wee bit obsessed with those.
So it’s hard to tell. One book I read recently was much too long, despite the good reviews, and another book I felt could have been improved by more at the ending, and it was already a 700+ brick! And everyone’s different, too. What I find boring, others might find riveting, and vice versa.
So maybe the King’s not too far off when he said to begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end, then stop. Sometimes, the simplest answer is the best. I think we’re mostly in agreement that, if it doesn’t really enhance or add anything to the story, then why is it there? Even that’s problematic, though. Some people do feel the story is enhanced by descriptions of food or fashion or locations or the intimate details of the mole on my aunt Bertha’s left cheek. Others…not so much.
Either way, I’m pretty sure this comment is too long by half, like a lot of those books I mentioned, lol.
I know different people have different tastes, especially since the two books I read had good reviews. And I love food descriptions. But other stuff bores me, especially when it’s stated as fact rather than even trying to make it interesting. For instance, saying how the wind through the leaves sounded or how the wind in your face feels…that’s interesting. Saying the wind was blowing, the leaves were moving…that’s boring. Am I making sense?
Also, I do want to say that most fantasy books usually have to be long because there’s usually so much going on in them.
I don’t mind long comments. 🙂
I think you answered your question just by the way you described the books you were reading. Even a 300 page book will feel long if it’s full of writing that doesn’t add to the story. It’s like you said, if the story is good, you won’t be looking at how long the book is. You’re too busy reading an awesome story. Personally, if the blurb sounds good, I’ll try it, regardless of the length because I don’t want to miss out on a great story.
On a different note, it seems we have the same problem with description. Hearing over and over not to overload the reader with description really affected my writing. Susan even thought it was too bare bones. Now I have the mindset of explaining every little detail in my draft. Why not? It’s a draft. I already now some of the crit I get back will be this is too much, but I think that’ll help me find the balance easier than trying to guess what’s too much. And for me, seeing a big chunk of description on the page helps me figure out how I can tighten it up.
Balance can be so hard, sometimes. Too much? Not enough? Grrrrr. And the biggest problem is that readers disagree on this. I’ll never forget when on one of my first books I had two beta readers and one said “too much description” and the other said “not enough description”. What? How am I supposed to figure THAT one out? But I’m learning balance more as I write more books. We get better the more we do this.
This post is a huge relief considering my last book is 20,000 words less than my average word count. LOL I agree the story is done when it’s done, regardless of word count. Better to leave people wanting more and hanging onto every word than to bore them.
The description thing is somethign no author can win. I’ve also noticed either it’s too much or too litte description. LOL I take a lot of comfort in reading reviews on NYT bestselling traditionally published books. It helps me realize that we can’t write for everyone. 😀
But I tend to be on the side that less can be more. I hate a lot of descriptions, and constant fights or misunderstandings between the hero and heroine in a romance make me pull my hair out. That’s why I try to avoid those things when I write.
I think all we can do as writers is write the books we’d want to read.
I love descriptions that make me feel like I’m there with the characters. But I don’t need to know the color of each car each character drives. (It wasn’t just the cars; everything was described.) An exception to the car thing would be if someone has some kind of classic muscle car that might show the personality of the character. And there has to be some kind of conflict between the heroine and hero, but there were times when I wanted to slap her when she just didn’t “get” the hero when it was so easy to see who and what he was. It just felt like it was done to draw out the story.
You’re right…we have to write the books WE want to read because we should can’t please everyone else.