Average Word Count for a D&D novel

[FreeXenon]

Does any one know where I can find a word count for D&D novels?
Either an average word count/book or specific page counts would work too.

How about page count as well?

thanks all,

 

[Umbran]

Those are a pretty specific sort of statistics. Given that non-gamers probably don't really recognize them as a separate genre, per se, I don't know that anyone's publicly complied and published such.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

I notice a lot of them tend to average around 310-312 pages. Some are longer or shorter of course, but a little over 300 pages seems to be the norm as far as page count goes.

 

[Dire Bare]

I've collected, and read, almost the entire collection of D&D novels since the Dragonlance Chronicles debuted back in the 80s. And during the entire stretch of time, D&D novels have been distressingly (IMO) uniform in length. There have been exceptions, but they stand out and are usually much shorter than the "standard" approx 300 pages.

I would love to see a BFF (Big F'ing Fantasy) series within the D&D line. You know, a la R. Jordan style with ten volumes or more to the series and each book capable of killing a man if dropped from a height . . . how cool would that be? I've never understood why TSR or WotC hasn't tried anything along those lines yet.

 

[Umbran]

I would love to see a BFF (Big F'ing Fantasy) series within the D&D line. You know, a la R. Jordan style with ten volumes or more to the series and each book capable of killing a man if dropped from a height . . . how cool would that be?

That depends. Even Jordan's fans usually recognize that, in the middle of that series, the work gets bloated with long passages about women's dresses, and darned little actually happening.

Huge books by mediocre authors? No, thanks.

 

[FreeXenon]

~ 300 pages or so... thanks...

[MENTION=177]Umbran[/MENTION], that makes sense.

How about a word count for a specific page..... ?

Thanks again all.

 

[RangerWickett]

A typical novel is about 100k. A typical fantasy novel is more like 110k-120k. I seem to recall doing a test back in the day and finding an average full page of text was around 400 words.

 

[Umbran]

How about a word count for a specific page..... ?

Well, now you're talking about issues of typeface and setting, and can vary widely.

Speaking for paperback fiction, in general, I've seen estimates running from 250 to 350 words per page. Call it 300, and then that 300 page novel is some 90,000 words.

(edit: I'll note the difference between my numbers and Rangerwickett's seems to sit in the "full page of text". In a typical novel, many pages are full of text, but between chapter headings and dialogue, the effective average number of words per page can drop)

 

[FreeXenon]

Thanks [MENTION=177]Umbran[/MENTION] and @Morrus; those are exactly the sorts of average numbers I am looking for!

 

[Dire Bare]

That depends. Even Jordan's fans usually recognize that, in the middle of that series, the work gets bloated with long passages about women's dresses, and darned little actually happening.

Huge books by mediocre authors? No, thanks.

Well, when I asked for a ginormous fantasy series, I left unspoken I wanted it written by a quality author. Good authors write hefty books as well as mediocre ones. Perhaps Jordan wasn't the best example to use. I should have used Tad Williams.