Dec 28, 2012 brass buttons, musical composition administered by. 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. A story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel. The hobbit is the story of bilbo baggins, a hobbit who lives in hobbiton. 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. To obtain the double spaced length, multiply the values in the last column by 2. Book, author, year, sentences, words, words per sentence. That said, if your book is around 40,000 words, youre in good company. For average word counts based on genre, see this handy reference. Tolkien 92,400 words song of solomon by toni morrison 91,419 words joy luck club by amy tan 89,297 words waiting.
Since then, however, it has been noted that there is prior evidence of the word, in a 19thcentury list of legendary. The development of the character of bilbo baggins bartleby. The oxford english dictionary, which added an entry for the word in the 1970s, credits tolkien with coining it. None of the other books topped 500 words in a single paragraph, although there were three that surpassed 450. Also, heres another list i may swipe and add in here. The latter tend to have larger, and therefore fewer, pages. 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. For a few examples, lets start on the low end of word count where we have the great gatsby clocking in at approx. Harry potter and the philosophers stone 76,944 words. The hobbit, or there and back again an unexpected party 4 remarkable tale.
Some of these essays can be done in one day and others in one night. 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. However, since each tome blitzed the 100,000 word mark the fellowship of the ring has177,227 words, the two towers. 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. When authors like roald dahl and jon scieszka pair up with illustrators. 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 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. The book with the longest paragraph was the prince of nothing, which had one paragraph of 508 words. Analyzing chapter lengths in fantasy fiction creativity hacker.
Oct 18, 2017 as with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. However, it will be on the short side, as the average length of a novel hovers around 50,00070,000 words. The silmarillion and the lord of the rings both introduce many times more new concepts, characters and locations which makes them more complex. What were gandalfs last words to bilbo in the hobbit answers. The hobbit, or there and back again mentions in our blog. Word count for famous novels organized commonplace book.
Hobbits first appeared in the 1937 childrens novel the hobbit, whose titular hobbit is the protagonist bilbo. And i believe pams book is good enough to one day be in that category. 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. Though the average word count of a chapter is around 2,000 5,000 words, it all depends on your story.
Suddenly inspired, he wrote the words, in a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. The hobbit the motivation of lust essays research papers. Reading length provides a calculation for the word count of this book, find out how long it will take you to read. 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. Word counts of the most popular books in the world foster grant uk. Famous book series and novel word counts number of words. The longest average chapter lengths were lord of the rings 7,500, prince of nothing 8,700, and the. But after the latters success, warner bros can probably. 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. He enjoys a peaceful and pastoral life but his life is interrupted by a surprise visit by the wizard gandalf. The entire lord of the rings series including the hobbit 576,459 words. Based on this list compiled by nicole humphrey cook. 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. The first printing of the first englishlanguage edition can sell for between.
As with everything else when it comes to writing a book, these are only guidelinesnot rules. Word count for famous novels, in ascending order by number of words. What were gandalfs last words to bilbo in the hobbit. The longest average chapter lengths were lord of the rings 7,500, prince of nothing 8,700, and the beefiest chapters were found. There were 5 titles at the heavierweight end, all of which had an average paragraph length of more than 50 words. Tales and adventures sprouted up all over the place wherever he went, in the most extraordinary fashion. He had not been down that way under the hill for ages and ages, not since his. Sting was an elven shortsword made in gondolin during the first age.
The hobbit the book, the hobbit starts at bilbos house. Tolkiens famous saga, the prelude to the lord of the rings, has all the ingredients of fantasy and adventure. Tolkien set out a fictional etymology for the word hobbit in an appendix to the lord of the rings, to the effect that it. However, this does not necessarily mean it is more difficult to read. 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. 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. I was mostly looking for a statistical basis to express my displeasure at the hobbit. Jackson made the lord of the rings trilogy with a one book to one film ratio.
More recently the fault in our stars comes in at 67,000. 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. First, warner brothers split the seventh harry potter book into the deathly hallows part 1 and part 2. Lewis the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, roald dahls charlie and the chocolate factory. Jul 30, 2012 jackson made the lord of the rings trilogy with a one book to one film ratio. R tolkien that takes place in the fictional world of middle earth, which is the setting of most of the authors works. Tolkiens own children, the hobbit has sold many millions of copies worldwide and established itself as a modern classic. Hobbits are a fictional humanlike race in the novels of j. Any selfhelp or motivational nonfiction book should be between 30,000 and 70,000 words. 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. 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. How long does bilbo stay at the last homely house in the book the hobbit. 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.
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. 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. Brass buttons, musical composition administered by. 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. This means your book will be between 100 and 230 pages in total. His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.
But again as a surprise to me, dune was a close second, averaging just 3,800 words per chapter. Right now, when it comes to novellength word count, its all about 90,000 words. Jun 27, 2019 a story that is over 40,000 words is generally considered a novel. The hobbit 95,022 words the fellowship of the ring 177,227 words the two towers 143,436 words the.
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. Words to pages determine page length from words count. The average paragraph length across all the books was 41. Everything you need to know about novel word counts nathan. Thrain confirms gandalfs fears of smaug being subservient to another unseen evil force, later revealed to be sauron. No more than 90,000 words seems to be the editors mantra these days. The enduring popularity of the hobbit makes early printings of the book attractive collectors items. Apr 03, 2016 and i believe pams book is good enough to one day be in that category. Tolkien as the name of a race of small humanoids in his fantasy fiction, the first published being the hobbit in 1937. The title with the shortest chapters, on average, was whirlwind in the thorn tree, averaging just 2,900 words each. It does not give a precise length of time on their way out, but. The hobbit, or there and back again is a fantasy novel by english author j. 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.
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. How many pages do the lord of the rings books have. 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 has more unique words and a higher unique word density than both the silmarillion and each volume in the lord of the rings. Vocabulary from the hobbit learn with flashcards, games, and more for free. 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. 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. One or more music publishing rights collecting societies tracklist. 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. 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. At an average reading rate of 125 words per minute, thats about 145 hours of reading. 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.
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. The hobbit, or there and back again is a childrens fantasy novel by english author j. The final hobbit film is an unprecedentedly gratuitous. When combined, the total harry potter word count is over a million words. The book remains popular and is recognized as a classic in. The lotr text has 482,058 occurrences, with 12,972 distinct lemmas. Though just a dagger by standard of elves, sting made a perfect shortsword for a hobbit, although it was still rather small. Virtually every book i try to shop by a debut author thats any longer than thatregardless of categoryreceives the same response from editors. Bilbo baggins discovered sting in the year ta 2941 in a trollhoard, and used it during the quest of erebor. The hobbit 95,022 the lord of the rings 455,125 the two towers 143,436.
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