There’s a specific number of words that makes a work of fiction a novel. A novel is considered to be any work of fiction above 40,000 words. Shorter than that (10,000-40,000 words) and it’s considered a novella. Most novels are between 50,000-80,000 words though.
The standard expected length of a novel varies from genre to genre. Here are the average word counts for popular genres:
- Young adult: 55,000 – 70,000
- Literary: 80,000-120,000
- Mystery: 75,000 – 100,000
- Thriller: 90,000 – 100,000
- Memoir: 80,000 – 90,000
- Fantasy: 100,000 – 115,000
- Western: 45,000 – 75,000
- Romance: 80,000 – 100,000
- Middle-grade novels: 20,000 – 55,000
