Notes | The Difficulty of 140,000 Characters

My child started elementary school in April, and while experiencing the 'first-grade devil' phase, I also happened to have a job transfer, so both parent and child are having busy days adjusting to a new environment.

From 4:00 AM to 6:00 AM.
This writing time hasn't changed since last year, and I'm still carving out time to write on weekends with my family's support to submit a work for the Creative Awards 2026, but...

Isn't it difficult to finish a story in 140,000 characters?!

My history of completed works is as follows.

• Just under 100,000 characters *Assuming a sequel

• 200,000 characters

• 540,000 characters

• 870,000 characters new!!

I have never written a story that wraps up neatly in about 100,000 characters!
I haven't really written with character limits before!!

It's too hard (；´Д｀)

To write out some excuses, the fantasy genre I love consumes a lot of character count just for introducing the world-building.

This is why Isekai stories that follow templates or game-like flows are popular.
The writer can omit explanations.
The reader can easily understand it.
Templates are very kind!
Templates are wonderful!!

However, I like creating my own unique worlds!
I want to be particular about the world-building!
In other words, I can't use that strategy!

Furthermore!

In fantasy, if you try to depict grandeur, you generally end up with a lot of characters!
After all, fantasy is about countries and worlds, right? (Though there are exceptions)
Inevitably, the number of people appearing increases!

It is sometimes said that for about 100,000 characters, having about 5 characters is good (though there are various theories),
but when I tried flipping through some standalone fantasy books I have at home and looked at the character introduction pages,there were at least 10 people. At least.

Isn't it difficult to write world-building and 10 characters in 140,000 characters?

I've been struggling with this every morning...

That said... it's fun...! This pain is fun...!!

I'm going to write something interesting that definitely finishes in 140,000 characters!
I'm full of that spirit.
I'm fired up.

Since entertainment is only worth it if the readers enjoy it, I would appreciate it if you could give me your thoughts in the comments, on X, or in this article, so I can use them as a reference for my work...!

By the way, regarding the Creative Awards where it is perfectly fine to write over 140,000 characters, my insistence on completing the work within that character count is explained in the article below, so please use it as a reference if you are struggling with the word count for your Creative Awards submission.

Mahomado, which won a Creative Award last year, has been serialized for a year and is scheduled to conclude on May 6th!
It will end on a repeating number, episode 333, and while it is long... completion is guaranteed!!
If you enjoy binge-reading, please check it out!!

That is all! I will do my best!!!