The lotr text has 482,058 occurrences, with 12,972 distinct lemmas. Analyzing chapter lengths in fantasy fiction creativity. Rowling started with two books of relatively conventional length before she had the latitude to start busting word count limits in the harry. For a few examples, lets start on the low end of word count where we have the great gatsby clocking in at approx. As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. The book remains popular and is recognized as a classic in. The definitive collection of tolkiens classic fairie tales, in the vein of the hobbit, illustrated by oscar winner alan lee never before published in a single volume, tolkiens four novellas farmer giles of ham, leaf by niggle, smith of wootton. How many pages do the lord of the rings books have. It was published on 21 september 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the carnegie medal and awarded a prize from the new york herald tribune for best juvenile fiction. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. Before bilbo is really able to improve upon the situation, gandalf has invited himself to tea and when he arrives, he comes with a company of dwarves led by thorin. He enjoys a peaceful and pastoral life but his life is interrupted by a surprise visit by the wizard gandalf. The hobbit tells a fantastic story of adventure, danger, friendship, and courage, and serves as a prequel to the even more immersive and epic book series, the lord of the rings.
It does not give a precise length of time on their way out, but. Thrain confirms gandalfs fears of smaug being subservient to another unseen evil force, later revealed to be sauron. I was mostly looking for a statistical basis to express my displeasure at the hobbit. Bert, tom, and william trolls from whom bilbo takes the key to a cave from which he and the dwarves take gold and the swords they use in battle with the goblins and in the battle of. Some of these essays can be done in one day and others in one night. Assassins apprentice 453, the hobbit 458, and the lord of the rings 483. Bilbo baggins discovered sting in the year ta 2941 in a trollhoard, and used it during the quest of erebor. Tolkien set out a fictional etymology for the word hobbit in an appendix to the lord of the rings, to the effect that it.
Harry potter and the philosophers stone 76,944 words. The latter tend to have larger, and therefore fewer, pages. He had not been down that way under the hill for ages and ages, not since his. Tolkien 92,400 words song of solomon by toni morrison 91,419 words joy luck club by amy tan 89,297 words waiting. Dec 28, 2012 brass buttons, musical composition administered by. Tolkien this study guide consists of approximately 35 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of the hobbit. No more than 90,000 words seems to be the editors mantra these days. What were gandalfs last words to bilbo in the hobbit. Right now, when it comes to novellength word count, its all about 90,000 words. When authors like roald dahl and jon scieszka pair up with illustrators. Tales and adventures sprouted up all over the place wherever he went, in the most extraordinary fashion. The hobbit, prequel and origination story to the lord of the rings trilogy, is about bilbo baggins a shireling that is used to an ordinary and wellmaintained life.
Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat. Any selfhelp or motivational nonfiction book should be between 30,000 and 70,000 words. The hobbit 95,022 the lord of the rings 455,125 the two towers 143,436. Analyzing chapter lengths in fantasy fiction creativity hacker. The hobbit the book, the hobbit starts at bilbos house. The entire lord of the rings series including the hobbit 576,459 words. The first printing of the first englishlanguage edition can sell for between. Words to pages determine page length from words count. Initially intended as a standalone story for children, it was later realigned more into the middleearth legendarium by 1951, when a revised edition was released. The hobbit, or there and back again mentions in our blog. Beyond creating entire languages for elves and orcs, tolkien was known for making up english words as well. Words to pages determine page length from words count and.
The third and final installment of the hobbit series hits theaters wednesday, and itll mark the last time fans will get the chance to explore middle earth for the conceivable future. Tolkien as the name of a race of small humanoids in his fantasy fiction, the first published being the hobbit in 1937. Though just a dagger by standard of elves, sting made a perfect shortsword for a hobbit, although it was still rather small. Dec 17, 2014 the third and final installment of the hobbit series hits theaters wednesday, and itll mark the last time fans will get the chance to explore middle earth for the conceivable future.
Apr 03, 2016 and i believe pams book is good enough to one day be in that category. To obtain the double spaced length, multiply the values in the last column by 2. John ronald reuel tolkien the hobbit, or there and back again. But again as a surprise to me, dune was a close second, averaging just 3,800 words per chapter.
One or more music publishing rights collecting societies tracklist. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book. There has been much beardscratching at the decision to eke a trilogy out of the hobbit, a quarter of the length of the lord of the rings. Whether youre just curious about how many words are in these books or youre writing a book and want to compare the length of your novel to these famous tomes, then read on to find the word counts of famous books and series. Hobbits first appeared in the 1937 childrens novel the hobbit, whose titular hobbit is the protagonist bilbo.
How long does bilbo stay at the last homely house in the book the hobbit. This means your book will be between 100 and 230 pages in total. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. Since then, however, it has been noted that there is prior evidence of the word, in a 19thcentury list of legendary.
The hobbit, or there and back again an unexpected party 3 chapter i an unexpected party in a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Famous book series and novel word counts number of words. The hobbit 95,022 words the fellowship of the ring 177,227 words the two towers 143,436 words the. Oct 18, 2017 as with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. The development of the character of bilbo baggins bartleby.
Hobbits are a fictional humanlike race in the novels of j. May 14, 2020 in addition, movie smaug is much larger than he is in the book, being over 140 meters in length, or twice the size of a 747. Lewis the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, roald dahls charlie and the chocolate factory. The radio dramatisation of the hobbit became a classic when it was first broadcast on bbc radio 4 in 1968 and it continues to delight today. However, since each tome blitzed the 100,000 word mark the fellowship of the ring has 177,227 words, the two towers has 143,436 words, and the return of the king has 4,462 there was more than enough descriptive ingredients for the director. Virtually every book i try to shop by a debut author thats any longer than thatregardless of categoryreceives the same response from editors. But because time sometimes slows down or speeds up when were engrossed in a good story, its very hard to compare the length of different. Reading length provides a calculation for the word count of this book, find out how long it will take you to read. However, since each tome blitzed the 100,000 word mark the fellowship of the ring has177,227 words, the two towers.
Like every other hobbit, bilbo baggins likes nothing better than a quiet evening in his snug hole in the ground, dining on a sumptuous dinner in front of a fire. Dec 09, 2012 there has been much beardscratching at the decision to eke a trilogy out of the hobbit, a quarter of the length of the lord of the rings. Since just comparing the number of unique words in a book does not take its length into account i decided to calculate the percentage of unique words of the whole text. The title with the shortest chapters, on average, was whirlwind in the thorn tree, averaging just 2,900 words each. More recently the fault in our stars comes in at 67,000. The dragon makes his full appearance in the second part. The final hobbit film is an unprecedentedly gratuitous.
But after the latters success, warner bros can probably. There were 5 titles at the heavierweight end, all of which had an average paragraph length of more than 50 words. Though the average word count of a chapter is around 2,000 5,000 words, it all depends on your story. Tolkiens own children, the hobbit has sold many millions of copies worldwide and established itself as a modern classic. However, it will be on the short side, as the average length of a novel hovers around 50,00070,000 words. Jackson made the lord of the rings trilogy with a one book to one film ratio.
There are plenty of books that purposefully play with the word counts of their chapters. The book with the longest paragraph was the prince of nothing, which had one paragraph of 508 words. None of the other books topped 500 words in a single paragraph, although there were three that surpassed 450. Suddenly inspired, he wrote the words, in a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. And i believe pams book is good enough to one day be in that category. Sting was an elven shortsword made in gondolin during the first age. Or are you a visually impaired reader who prefers largeprint editions. In this prequel to the lord of the rings, bilbo baggins enjoys a quiet life until a group of dwarves and a wizard named gandalf enlist him in their quest for a dragons treasure. The oxford english dictionary, which added an entry for the word in the 1970s, credits tolkien with coining it. Word counts of the most popular books in the world foster grant uk. His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide. The novel that im writing is at 53,000 words and i was trying to figure out how many words is average for a book of my genre.
Tolkien 18921973 is the creator of middleearth and author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as the hobbit, the lord of the rings, and the silmarillion. Balin, dwalin, bifur, bofur, bombur, dori, nori, ori, fili, kili, oin, gloin the other twelve dwarves who go with thorin, gandalf, and bilbo on the long journey. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down. The longest average chapter lengths were lord of the rings 7,500, prince of nothing 8,700, and the. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. For book length, i chose to go with word count rather than page count, since theres so much variability when it comes to the number of words that. At an average reading rate of 125 words per minute, thats about 145 hours of reading. The silmarillion and the lord of the rings both introduce many times more new concepts, characters and locations which makes them more complex. A story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel.
That said, if your book is around 40,000 words, youre in good company. Also, heres another list i may swipe and add in here. The longest average chapter lengths were lord of the rings 7,500, prince of nothing 8,700, and the beefiest chapters were found. The enduring popularity of the hobbit makes early printings of the book attractive collectors items. The hobbit, or there and back again an unexpected party 4 remarkable tale.
The average paragraph length across all the books was 41. As you read the hobbit, you might find yourself confidently checking a dictionary for a definition only to find it not there, because with tolkiens knowledge of the fundamentals of language, his madeup words sound real. What were gandalfs last words to bilbo in the hobbit answers. Book, author, year, sentences, words, words per sentence. The hobbit the motivation of lust essays research papers. The book was first published on september 21, 1937 and is set in the years 2941 to 2942 of the third age before the events of the lord of the rings. The hobbit, or there and back again is a childrens fantasy novel by english author j. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. An unexpected journey and by extension, parts 2 and 3 of this unnecessary trilogy, but i wound up comparing the density of the hobbit movies, as measured in words in book per second of movie wibpsom, to other prominent movie adaptations of books. Vocabulary from the hobbit learn with flashcards, games, and more for free.
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