Need Advice about ....

I need help, please!

I had another person go through my manuscript. He's a professor in creative writing at a University in NY. I paid him a small sum to give me his opinion and correct anything that may need it.

He said- First time authors rarely get a manuscript over 100,000 words published. Mine is 189,000 words and there's a part two to it, if I can get it done that way. He advised I go up to 100,000 words and anything over that combine with the part two and leave it at that. He said it was very good, and made some changes here and there with grammar..etc. Would cutting it in half fly?

Now although many parts of the manuscript come from real life experiences, he said I should consider it a fiction-- romance/crime drama--because the male lead character has to do with the teamsters union and mob connections. In my eyes it's more a romance novel regardless of the organized crime suspense. I don't know which way to go on this now on either problem. :shrug

Any suggestions? :hail Help!


***OOPS! Forgot something: It's hard to break this manuscript down like that because every line and paragraph ties in with the story. A friend, who's an English teacher tried to help me cut it down and she said, it's like a 200,000 piece puzzle, you need every piece to make it complete. I'm losing my mind, :ack any help, guidance is appreciated. Thanks, Katherine

novel

He's both right and wrong. The longer the novel, the harder it is for a first time writer to get it published, but it's by no means impossible. And 189,000 is by no means an unsalable length, even for a new writer. I'd give it a chance before cutting.

But the part two might be a problem. Then you are getting way too long, and there's no real need for it. If you want the novel to be the right length, then you make it the right length, and any novel can be made the right length.

Every novel can be cut. The writer may not think so, but any good editor can cut your novel to pretty much any length.

Every line and every paragraph in every good novel ties in with the story, and this doesn't hinder cutting the novel in any way. It often makes it easier.

And I'll side with him on this, it is fiction and needs to be treated as such. Quite often much extra length is put in a novel because parts of it come from real life and the writer feels obligated to write thngs as they really happened. Bad idea. Fiction is fiction and needs to be treated as such.

But if you can keep it to 189,000 words, I'd give it a chance to sell before making drastic cuts.

Re: novel

When you finish your novel and are sending it out start you second novel. Make your second novel a shorter and more salable one.

So your second novel is the first one published. So what?

Re: novel

If all the words are the right words in the right places, and the book comes to a conclusion, go with it.

(Remember that "it really happened that way!" is not a reason for something to happen in fiction.)

Re: novel

from what i understand, you don't have to decide what genre your book is.

that's marketing's job.

Re: novel

Yeah, my novel is 190,000 words. Luckily for me, if publishers are THAT picky about word count, it could be divided into three parts because its like a movie trilogy sort of thing like Star Wars or the Matrix or one of those other series where each part has its own story but they combine to form a bigger story. I'd prefer to have it all together though if that's at all possible. I have a couple shorter novels too. Actually, one is only 38,000 words, so not really a novel, but pretty close to it.

Re: novel

It's not a bad idea to cut it in halves or thirds and sell it as a series...

To Katherine... there's always a way to cut. I didn't think it was possible for me to cut anything out, but I did and guess what, I didn't miss a thing. As a writer, you must be able to detach yourself from your work and look at it with an objective eye and a mean red pen.

Things I cut out from my ms were my heart and soul, words that were eloquent or insightful or funny or whatever, but at the end of the day, they could be cut without sacrificing the story. Some passages that were cut managed to get back in the final ms, but they more or less stayed cut. I'm not sure if there is really any book where not a word can be cut or a phrase rewritten or shorten. If there's a will, there's a way.

Just my 0.0002.

Re: novel

Thank you everyone.

I'm going over it again and prepared to cut it down (if I can), but knowing me...I'll probably add to it! OH! that hurts. I'm very grateful for this board . You guys have helped me so much, I wouldn't have gotten this far if it weren't for "Learn Writing with Uncle Jim" tread ***Thank you Uncle Jim*** :hail and everyone else who takes the time to answer my posts. :kiss

Re: novel

If you could cut the one massive novel into 3 complete novels of about 60 odd thousand words each you might be better off. I seem to recall a mystery writer who made their first sale because they had written three novels in the series.

The editor's reasoning was: "The writing wasn't outstanding but it was good and was consistent thru 3 novels. I figured the writer had staying power and I was right."

cutting

Cutting one novel into three can be a good idea, but for a first time writer that first novel, even when part of a series, needs to stand alone. If it doesn't sell well, there may not be a second.

Re: cutting

Agreed, jamesaritchie. My saying three complete novels probably did not clarify that sufficiently; thank you.

Personally I feel every novel should stand on its own no matter who writes it or the series it belongs too.