You are told to cut-what do you remove?

Darzian · Sep 14, 2008

I'm writing YA Epic fantasy.

I'm aiming for 100 000 words, and hope that's the norm. I've done some research but not found anything conclusive so I've planned it to be 100k.

Has an agent/editor told you to cut down due to too many words? If so, what parts did you remove?

If this were to happen to me, I'd be really sad because I don't like deleting anything I've written. I could remove some adverbs and adjectives, I suppose, but doing that to the entire WIP could take weeks. I haven't even considered the possibility of the removal of entire scenes, though that may be easier to do once I finish the WIP.

I'm truly planning way ahead, but there are no cons with that.

Bufty · Sep 14, 2008

Can vary from person to person. But considering excessive detail is a good place to start. Ask yourself as you read - is it really necessary for the reader to know this?

Brutal Mustang · Sep 14, 2008

When I revise my work, it almost always gets trimmed down.

First of all, there is the obvious: I cut out "boring" stuff my reader doesn't need to know ... you know, the stuff that doesn't enhance the story in any way. No one needs to know every single detail of my character walking over to his neighbor's house to borrow some sugar.

Second of all: I find simpler ways of saying things. Doing so is a game I relish. It's fun figuring out how to say something as short and pointed as possible. Writing becomes more powerful when clarified in this way.

Sage · Sep 14, 2008

One of the first things I do when editing (after my initial post-writing read) is try to tighten. It's easy to say things a lot more complicatedly than we need to. I have a tendency to do things like:

"Joe would be able to do that."

instead of

"Joe could do that."

A lot of (but not all) verbs with prepositions attached can be simplified to just the verb. "He sat down in the chair" can be simplified to "He sat in the chair." (Of course, if there's no reason to mention the chair, it can also just be "He sat down" which cuts out more words)

And, of course, there are the "that"s, at least for me. I have a bunch of unnecessary "that"s, although you have to be careful not to cut the necessary ones.

Finally, look out for passive voice (and that will strengthen your writing too). "My hair was cut by Jane" takes more words than "Jane cut my hair."

It takes some time to go through the novel and cut things down. But tightening your novel makes it more engaging. The reader gets to the point, the action, the dialogue, the characters more quickly.

Cutting scenes is a much quicker way to cut down the word count, but tightening is usually a wise course of action. Basically I go line by line (and paragraph by paragraph) asking myself, "Is there a tighter way to say this that doesn't lose the voice?" If so, I change it. It's part of my editing process so the "taking weeks" part doesn't bother me.

Oh, and I find it's easier to see what can be tightened when I print it out.

It is possible your first draft is pretty tight, but most can use some tightening, especially for first-time authors.

100K is within the fantasy range, YA tends to run a little shorter than adult. I wouldn't worry about word count too much until you're done. It might run shorter than you expect, or longer. My first YA (fantasy) finished at 130K. I started cutting scenes before it was done because I knew it would be loooooong, so who knows how long it would be if I hadn't. After tightening, I got it down to 116K. (It is currently trunked b/c it needs a deep overhaul before it is publishable).

Fillanzea · Sep 14, 2008

Don't ever be afraid of spending weeks in revisions - lots of writers take months doing revisions!

It really depends on the individual writer. If you tend to write florid prose that's overloaded with description, for example, that's where I would cut. If you write spare prose, then you might consider cutting out scenes or even characters or subplots. Or even splitting the story into two books if you have to!

Carmy · Sep 14, 2008

Dialogue tags may be what you should check first.

If there are only two characters in a scene, many of the tags can be deleted without having the reader lose track of who's speaking.

Have you written things like "she said" and accompanied it with action? For example: "No," she said with a shrug. You can convey the same thing with: "No." She shrugged.

This may not seem like a lot of words to cut out, but they add up.

Dale Emery · Sep 14, 2008

Test every scene against this question: What would happen if I deleted this?

Then test every paragraph. Then every sentence. Then every word.

Dale

Darzian · Sep 14, 2008

We'll I'm writing full time for the moment being (and will be till next Feb) so I've got all the time I need!

waylander · Sep 14, 2008

My crit partner got an agent with her 128k fantasy adventure. She got a deal and then the editor had her cut it to 90k. The book is now out and is around 96k

Linda Adams · Sep 14, 2008

Think of it as improving the story, which it will. I tend to write too short and have to add under revision--but I always find things that need to come out to make the story better.

Some things to look for:

Eliminate repetitions: Unfortunately, it's all too easy to say something and then say again a few paragraphs later. Or even a sentence later. I had to weed out numerous instances of "It's cold" out of a manuscript and was surprised to see how often I did it without thinking about it. My former co-author would often not like a sentence and instead of fixing it, would write a new sentence that said the same thing. I also just critted a manuscript where the author showed us the character experiencing a scene, and then went into repetition mode, having the character recount it seven more times in the next fifty pages. So it can lurk anywhere, and it's all to the better to lose them.

Another form of repetition to be on the lookout for is where you use a adverb to describe a word--only the word already means what the adverb is describing. For example: Caress gently. Caress means "to touch or pat gently to show affection." Gently isn't needed because the word already does the job. Lately, I've been finding a lot of words where I've been doing that, so it's worth looking up words in the dictionary.

Anything to do with eyes. This is another one of those things that slips in and suddenly you have eight of them on one page (guilty). Run a search for eyes, glanced, looked, glared, gazed (Word allows you to do a search and replace with highlighter). If you see a lot of them on one page, time to start trimming or revising--not just changing it to a different look word.

Miscellaneous words/phrases worth a review to see if they're needed:

Very
A bit
A little
A little bit
Down
Fairly
Highly
Just
Kind of
Mostly
Of
Only
Pretty
Quite
Rather
Really
Slightly
So
Somewhat
Sort of
That
Up

A lot of these words could be cut out (i.e., "He stood up" becomes "he stood" )without the reader knowing the word was there. Again, a search and replace and then a scan to see if the word can go or not.

ChaosTitan · Sep 14, 2008

Revisions take as long as they need to in order to produce a superior product. Days, weeks, or months, what's important is that you end up with the best story you can tell.

Last year, I set a challenge for myself. I'd written a two-part novel that was, in total, around 165k words. I challenged myself to break it down and bring it in as one novel, under 120k words. It took time, but I managed it. Just to prove to myself that, no matter how painful it was to cut a scene or delete a character, I COULD do it, if I had to.

You are told to cut-what do you remove?

Darzian

To-to-to-ron-to

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?

Brutal Mustang

Loves interplanetary chaos.

Sage

Supreme Guessinator

Fillanzea

Carmy

Dale Emery

is way off topic

Darzian

To-to-to-ron-to

waylander

Who's going for a beer?

Linda Adams

Soldier, Storyteller

ChaosTitan

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