A Sparse Writer

So it turns out I’m a sparse writer.  Always have been.  I guess that’s not too bad of a thing, considering I write children’s books, which tend to be on the shorter side.  But sometimes it’s a bit of a pain.  For example, I’ve just reached 25K words in my latest manuscript.  I call this a minor accomplishment, because 25K equals about a hundred pages in the publishing biz.  But, unfortunately, my story is coming down to the homestretch.  I’d be lucky just to get another fifty pages out of this draft before it all ends, and a hundred and fifty pages—for a middle-grade dystopian—not too long…not too long at all…

So…hmmmm…what can I do?  At the moment I’m not totally sure, but I do intend to go back after I finish this draft and develop at least one subplot, which should help beef up the pages.  I also want to beef up the romance between my protagonist and, well, his romantic interest.  Heck, I’d like some beef for dinner tonight! (Can you tell it’s almost evening where I live?).  Other than that, I’ll have to keep my eyes and ears open for ways to lengthen this story without adding anything extraneous.  Not always easy, of course.

When I’m totally done with this book (including polishing), I’d be happy if it reached 50K words, but I’d really like it to reach somewhere between 60K-70K, but I don’t think that will happen.  Ah, well, we’ll see.  Of course, all in all, the most important thing I need to keep in mind is that the story should be as long as it needs to be, no more, no less.

So what type of writer are you?  Sparse or—er—non-sparse?