Word Count dictating End of novel

I never thought this was possible until last night.

The word count on my WIP has been bugging me the last month or so (as in its escalating beyond what a publisher may accept - 145k so far, estimated another 30k, and even with losing ten or fifteen percent through revisions, i'd be looking at final draft of 150k) It hasnt been the kind of story I could outline and look at and change things into a neat 125k novel. (Memoir meets fiction meets not alot of plot not very linear)

I skipped back a few chapters of my WIP to tidy up a scene, add one line of dialogue, and when i typed the period I sat back and thought hang on, finish it there chief. I looked it over again, skimmed over the 35k of story after this point, and realised this belongs in a different book, a sequel.
SO that's what I've done, and it feels weird. Like running the marathon and somebody taps you on shoulder to say "hang on you've ran 35 miles instead of 26." That make sense?

I'm not going to stop the race though. May as well hammer on and finish the sequel (or next in the series, my how the muse gets carried away while im stuck in work!) and treat this time as the period of allowing part 1 to cool off, so when i come to edit that in six or eight weeks, I'll have written THE END and put another MS away in the draw.

blacbird said:

If this is a WIP, at 145K with an estimate of another 30K to finish, I take it as meaning you have done no significant editing. I'd bet you can lose a good deal more than 10-15% if you get properly brutal about the editing process. I'd also bet you'll need to. Aim for at least 30%. Don't get religiously defensive about your words.

caw.

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Oh I won't, no problems on that score! I edited my first finished novel from 190k down to 125k for submission (which its still out on, months later)
The last thing I am is defensive about words. It sounds sick, but i love killing my babies.
As for significant editing, i edit each chapter / scene the day after writing it, before starting work for that evening. Apart from getting the juices flowing it gives confidence in the direction I want the story to take, and in that im getting what I want to say across to the reader. I also take time to revise as I go, switching stuff around, deleting redundant scenes. Some people hate editing, I love it. In fact I love every aspect of producing a book.

Thanx for the congrats Iggy, strange feeling coming to an end without realising, bit of an anti climax. And Siren, over the past 24 hours the thought has crossed my mind about LOTR and other movies being produced one after another. Ill just keep on going until its time to edit the first!