1 word 2 words 3 words 4, 5 words 6 words 7 words more.
It's very important that you know how long you want your novel to be, whether its the size of Sherrilyn Kenyon's "Born of Fury", or maybe something smaller like Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island". Either way, knowing your desired word count is crucial.
Take J.K Rowling's Harry potter series for example:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - 76,944 words
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - 85,141 words
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - 107,253 words
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - 190,637 words
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - 257,045 words
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - 168,923
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - 198,227
The total word count for each of her books varies drastically, but each novel is filled to overflowing with adventure. The perfect balance has to be created; where there's never too many words and not enough adventure, nor too much adventure and not enough words. In order to successfully outline your book it is important to aim at, or around, your genre's average word count. Here are some examples:
Fiction
Fantasy: 90,000 -125,00 words
Epic Fantasy: 180,000 - 200,000 words
Romance: 50,000 - 90,000 words
Mainstream Romance: 70,000 - 90,000 words
Science fiction: 90,000 - 125,000 words
Mysteries & Crime: 80,000 - 100,000 words
Thrillers: 80,000 - 100,000 words
Historical: 80,000 - 120,000 words
Horror: 80,000 - 100,000 words
Literary: 80,000 - 120,000 words
New age: 60,000 - 85,000 words
Western: 50,000 - 80,000 words
Non-Fiction
Memoir & Biography: 80,000 - 100,000 words
Narrative Non-Fiction: 70,000 - 110,000 words
Self-help & How-to: 40,000 - 60,000 words
Age range
Adult: 80,000 - 125,000 words
Young Adult: 50,000 - 90,000 words
Middle Grade: 30,000 - 50,000 words
Children: 500-600 words
Source: www.savannahgilbo.com
Now, while aiming at the average word count is a good place to start, it's also important to realize that the amount of words provided is not limiting to your story. You don't have to land within the margins.
The challenge:
I want you to find a book that is around the size you picture your finished novel to be, then to look up it's word count. I'll bet that it's either way more, or way less then you anticipated.
Do you see what I mean? You may have no idea how many words you're actually aiming for until you realize what size you want your novel to be, and thats where the fun starts.