How to cut the crap from your writing

Sometimes great writing is less writing. Avoid inordinate verbosity with these ten easy ways to cut the crap from your writing:





Write a lot of crap. For novelists, plan to write to 100,000 words and revise down to 90,000.
Make a new home for your "darlings." Maybe it's a special document or folder—just as long as it's not your manuscript!
Give every scene the really!? REALLY!? Test. Is it really that great? Is it really that funny? Does it really move the story forward?  If you can't justify it, proceed to step #4.
Kill your darlings. Bury them in your darlings document. Resurrect them as needed (but you probably won't have to).
This, that, and the other thing: find tiny clutter words and delete them.
Why use 3 words when one will suffice? Exactly. Use one word.
We read it the first time. Watch out for repetition.
Items 9 and 10 but they were crap, so I cut them.







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Published on March 16, 2011 19:10
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