The Myths of How to Reduce Word Count in Novels
I found myself in the position of needing to reduce word count on a story I have nicknamed, The Beast. No, it doesn’t have any werewolves or ginormous Jurassic Park type animals in it, and no that isn’t the real name of it, either. I nicknamed it that, because of its size.
I know what some of you might be thinking. Because I’m a pantster, this is classic of how a story can get away from the author without an outline. But that isn’t the case at all. When the I first started writing this story, I pretty much had it sorted in my head what would happen. And I wrote the first draft that way. However, after reading over it, I realized that my ending wasn’t satisfactory. That was because what I had perceived as the end in my head was actually a climatic pointed that needed a resolution. In other words, it was the middle. As I worked out the “new” end, I opened up a plot hole. Truthfully, it wasn’t a hole but more of a dent. I needed to explain a genealogy. Well, that took a bit of time, but I wasn’t worried. I knew once I got it on paper, I could pare it down later. As I read further, I bumped into another dent, which needed explanation. I got that one done as well.
I read over what I had and decided that one of my main characters had no depth and no redeeming qualities. She was there serving her purpose, but I feared readers wouldn’t relate to her. Maybe she was fine, but I didn’t like her. That meant revising her scenes to give her more emotional growth and substance. Then, I decided I wanted to change elements of my male protagonist. I could go on, but these little things that improved the core story began to add up. However, this is all part of a first draft and no need for alarm.
But then, something unrelated happened. I set aside my beast to work on other projects that had upcoming deadlines. One of the most important things a writer can do is learn from others as well as learning from self. The feedback I received from one my other projects opened my eyes that the same issue was embedded in my beast. Working out that kink is what really inflated my word count. And btw, because of how I write, it wouldn’t have been a problem I would have foreseen even if I had written an outline. Basically, the issue stemmed from expertise. There were elements in my story that I took for granted that everyone knew. However, these were regional elements that were baffling to outsiders and required explanation.
The bottom line, my story landed at a massive 158,000+ words. I know, I tend to be longwinded anyway, but even for me, that was colossal. So, then began the process of reducing the word count. Initially, I did what I consider to be standard edits, but that didn’t pare down my manuscript nearly enough. As many writers do, I turned to the internet for suggestion and tips and was met with many methods that do not work as well claimed or has hidden pitfalls.
DISCLAIMER: I’m not saying these methods do not work. However, they did not work well for me.
Adverbs are the antichrist; kill them all. There are writers that claim adverts weaken language. To me, this is like mowing down the flowerbed while cutting the lawn. I’m from the south, and southerners use colorful language. Often adverbs cause a sentence to take on a different meaning. While many adverbs can be removed because they add nothing to the sentence, sometimes removing them can take away from the tone/voice of the narrator. The argument is to use stronger verbs. That works, but sometimes, changing verbs requires adding more words or restructuring sentences. At times, this may increase instead of reducing word count. It may also vanilla-rize your writing and have it sounds like everyone else. Stories weighed with adverbs will be a slow read. The key is to use appropriate adverbs in moderation.
Reducing a specific number of words per page. This sounded awesome but translated into a dud for me. This had all the makings of a real solution, and I’m sure for many this worked well. For me, the problem arose of the unevenness of pages. For example, I needed to delete at least ten words per page. This was based on the assumption that the word count per page would be about 250. However, I had pages with much fewer words–some of thirty words or less. Deleting a sentence of dialogue would have the character talking to himself. And that would be okay if my character was schizophrenic. I should note that at the point I attempted this tip, I previously had edited for redundancies, verb usage, and adverbs/adjectives. A lot of the fat had been trimmed from the sentences. Therefore, I had pages with very few words remaining that could be cut without taking away vital content.
Don’t fear killing your baby/darling. Do fear this, and fear this greatly. Your manuscript is something that you have invested a lot of time and energy. It’s not something you should take likely in ripping apart. Edits are supposed to be productive and not willy-nilly slashing for the sake of doing so. True, some authors are too close to their work to be objective and believe that every word is greatness. That’s the opposite extreme. What an author should seek is to meaningfully reduce word count without sacrificing the integrity of the story. Follow your gut. If something feels vital and necessary, it probably is. It’s your story. Just because someone suggests you cut a scene does not mean you should. Perhaps, it needs to be moved or rewritten or another scene deleted. I had two readers give me generic advice to delete a paragraph of backstory. While this works for many, when I did so, it destroyed my story. I was accused of being too close to my work. (Laughable for a person who has cut—and is still cutting—over 45,000 words from her story.) The problem was the backstory they suggested be deleted held very important information that could go no other place in the story. It couldn’t occur in a flashback and had to occur by a specific character in a certain place in the story timeline. Removing this paragraph was a huge mistake. However, by deleting it, it allowed me to see the correction that needed to be made, which was moving the paragraph forward a bit and adding more information to it. I know I said the goal was to reduce word count. However, by adding to this paragraph, it allowed me to condense other paragraphs and combined scenes. This, in turn, allowed me to reduce my count by several hundred words.
Get rid of dialogue tags. This tip actually works well IF there are only two characters in a scene or if the voices of characters are distinct enough for readers to determine who is speaking. Otherwise, stripping dialogue tags can leave readers confused. What I found to work better is to use an action tag instead. That way I can move my character as need and get rid of the dialogue tag without confusing the reader. Dialogue tags can quickly run up a word count. If they can be eliminated, do so. However, be certain that who is speaking remains clear.
Allowing someone else to cut the words. Oh boy! Sometimes, it’s necessary for a fresh pair of eyes, especially doing the editing process. Anyone considering self-publishing will need to hire a professional editor. Traditional publishers edit in-house. If it is a minimal amount of words that need to be cut, having someone else do it isn’t much of an issue. However, when it comes to large quantities, there’s two reason writers should think twice. First, it can change the voice of your story. Word choice often speaks volumes about the author. For example, “Tie the boat up over yonder across the river” can be simplified to “Tie the boat across the river”. Same thing … kinda. The second states a concise directive. The first, give the directive but also reveals traits about the character. Depending on what the author is trying to convey determines how the sentence should be edited. An outside source may cut without regard to the author’s voice. The second reason—and this is important—is cost. Editing cost money. The more words in a manuscript, the more editing is likely to cost. Sending my beast off at 158k could cost close to five thousand big one. Spending some time to spare it down to 90k and my editing cost can reduce almost $2,500. Not only that, if an editor is spending to narrow down the size, other issues in the manuscript may get overlooked. Therefore, it is beneficial for writers to get their manuscript as clean as possible before sending to editing. There still will be plenty of corrections for editors to make. #IWSG
Don’t forget to visit Creole Bayou again. New posts are made on Wednesdays. If you have any questions or suggestions about this post or any others, feel free to comment below or tweet me at @dolynesaidso. You also can follow me on Instagram at genevivechambleeauthor or search me on Goodreads or Amazon Authors.
Life’s Roux: Wrong Doors, my steamy romantic comedy, is available at Red Sage Publishing. To order, follow the link to http://bit.ly/2CtE7Ez or to Amazon at http://amzn.to/2lCQXpt.
My new book, Out of the Penalty Box, a fiction romance is now available for at http://amzn.to/2Bhnngw. It also can be ordered on iTunes, Nook, or Kobo. For more links where to purchase or to read the blurb, please visit http://bit.ly/2i9SqpH.
My saucy short story “Cargo” in Pirates: Boys Behaving Badly Anthology #3 is available for purchase. Find it at http://amzn.to/2DV5btz.
Copies of all my books and stories are available in paper, eBook, and audio on Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. The links are listed in my Writing Projects page (http://bit.ly/2iDYRxU) along with descriptions of each of my novels or stories.
NEWSLETTER! Want to get the latest information and updates about my writing projects, giveaways, contests, and reveals first? Click on http://bit.ly/2zJjUdb and signup today.
If you enjoy reading this blog, please share it with your friends and family. There’s never too many people in the bayou. Spread the word.
