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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/20663
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I have almost completed a high fantasy novel that I have spent over 10 years designing the world and everything that works in the story. It is the first of a trilogy and therefore has a main story line, a overarching series story line in it, and still has to provide room to show the rich cultural history of my world.

It currently weighs in at 186,058 words and is projected to be finished at 200K words. All my research say 100K to 120K max. Bringing it down to such would be throwing away half my book! I have thought about trying to split it into two novels and just write a little more to round them out, but I have no clue where to start there. I am not finding a climax in the first half, and doing so would leave a reader with a lot of standing questions. Is that allowed for a first time author to do if the second book is already written and ready to publish? I don't want to anger my readers before I even have them.

I have only a handful of chapters left to go to finish completely but I have been so concerned about this topic that I have found it impossible to move forward. I am open for any suggestions that would help get me back on track.

Original score: 5