Quality <> Quantity

This is old debate has come to mind recently as I've been thinking about the length of my book, been thinking, as intense as the story is, as engrossing as it is, it is a little on the short said, one of my relatives I had asked to read it and give me some feedback on the length and writing style, commented saying, the descriptive details of the past of characters in the book, was just enough, balanced with the present story line within the book, but she waited to know more, more about them, like as if their was more to the story to be told.

In truth their is more to the story to be told, But the all important question is was the reader satisfied, at the end of reading the story, even though she wanted to know more, was she satisfied with what she had read, this question has just come to me as I'm writing this post, so right after this I'm going to pose this question to my relative and may even return to post the answer on here.

Now back to the actual length of my book / story as it stands now, book length is usually measured by words, a books word count, at the moment my book / story is roughly 7,500 words, this is turned into pages, by calculating, how many words a page does most books (novels especially) have, that number is roughly 250 words per page (according to a lot of reliable online sources, e.g. http://resourcesforwriters.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_long_is_a_book )

7,500 / 250 or 7,500 Divided by 250 = 30

7,500 words overall so far, / 250 average amount of words per page = 30pages so far, that's the estimated length of my book in pages...

How much fun was that, great fun, until I realised that my book is extremely short, Oh Dear! lol... what to do now?, I'm very happy with the story, and I'm totally against fillers, u know, the sort of thing that is added to a story just to make it longer, like putting carrots in mince to make it stretch, (I hate carrots in mince) .

I have realised that I'm not actually writing a novel in this first book, it is far more likely to be called a short story at this stage, 30pages, most readers, could read the whole book in a single setting and probably would, even those that don't read often would probably become addicted to the story and finish it within a day, so I'm thinking the book needs to double in length, then I'd be happy, 60 pages would give me a word count of around 15,000 words, qualifying the book as a Novellette , (anything from 7,500 - 17'500 words) even as it stands, it would still qualify, but would need a bit more in the length department to keep me happy, to perhaps satisfy me as the writer...

OK so what to do now, I hate fillers, like carrots, But I need my story to be longer, what shall one do?

I've looked at the story, looked for parts of the story that is still untold, that readers would like to be told, character backgrounds, and their upbringings, crucial points in their life's, where decisions had to be made, decisions and choices that have lead them to be where they are in the story, this kind of information is not something I would call a filler, but more crucial to the story, and the completion of the story, so now my task is going in and completing these parts of the tale, I not sure what the completed word count will be once this is done, but I will be satisfied with the story. and will then set about setting up the story for print.

looking forward to completing the story, will be back to post again soon

but for now, Cheerio Folks!