August 2019 – Selina J. Eckert

Overwriting: How Do I Cut It Down?

My book is too long! Now what???

Last week, we took a look at how to bulk out a story and add words. We discussed how we can add in subplots or characters, create new scenes we may have glossed over in earlier drafts, show rather than tell, and discuss what may be lacking with our beta readers.

This week, we will address the opposite problem: overwriting. Overwriting is when your word count is higher than your target, and if you plan to query, it’s important to remove the excess so that an agent will take your work seriously (look back to this post if you want a reminder of why word count matters).

Dealing with Deleting

Cutting your work can be hard. So before we even discuss that, let’s talk about overcoming the emotional and mental hurdle of paring down your manuscript.

You may have heard the phrase kill your darlings, and very simply put, that means we shouldn’t hang on to things just because we like them. They need more of a reason to stay.

For me, I find it’s easier to start cutting things out when I spend at least a month away from a work. That way I’m less attached to it. If I don’t wait long enough, lots of useless darlings stay in my work and weigh it down.

However, just because something doesn’t work in your current story doesn’t mean it will never work. You can always copy/paste your darlings into another document to repurpose later. Even if you never come back to it, you can rest assured that your darlings aren’t gone forever…they just moved. And if you decide you want to add them back in, they’re easy to find again.

But often you won’t even be able to notice, and your manuscript will be better for it.

How to find places to trim

Extra subplots and characters

Yup, extra words can lurk in unnecessary subplots and characters. For example, the first few versions of This Cursed Flame included several extra characters: Alem, Cody, and Afya. And none of them made the final cut. Here’s why:

Alem: this was a character substituting for the real antagonist. He chased the main characters around when all along a different character should have had this place. And so I cut him. (Plus, his name was really similar to the big bad, Ahriman. That can be confusing!)

Cody: this one was hard. But this character served no purpose and had no influence on the outcome of the story. He was fluff, there to add drama that the story really didn’t need.

Afya: this was the hardest. I loved her! But ultimately, she had the same issues as Cody. She was redundant to the plot, and combining her with another character served her purpose better.

So you see, characters can be cut or combined with other characters, and sometimes, that’s the way to do it. Make sure every person in the story serves a purpose and influences the final outcome in some way. And if they don’t, or if their presence muddles the plot, do away with them.

And the same can be said for subplots. If it’s doing the same thing (not pulling its emotional weight in the story, for example) or confuses the plot, it may be better to eliminate it.

Scenes

As you go through and read to revise, ask yourself what each scene contributes to the overall story or subplots. Is it moving the story forward? Does it develop relationships or establish the world?

And, can it be combined with another scene to serve the same purpose?

You may find that some of your scenes aren’t pulling their weight (like the subplots I mentioned above), and if that is the case, they might be eliminated. And if there’s something in the scene you really like (a darling), see if you can add it in somewhere else.

THe writing itself

Another place to look is at your writing itself. This level of editing will be smaller in scale, but you’d be surprised how much it can add up! So what should you look for?

Purple prose: any unnecessarily over-the-top descriptions, such as overly flowery explanations of the setting. Your beta readers or critique partners should be able to point this out.
Weak adverbs: look for adverbs and adjectives. While personally I love them, oftentimes they can weaken your writing if you’re not careful (and add lots of unnecessary words!). Check each one. Can you make your sentence or your verbs stronger by eliminating the modifier and replacing the words with something stronger? For example, “very loud” can be changed to something like “cacophonous” or “deafening.” (hint: any time you see a word like very, try replacing it and the words associated with it with a single, strong word)

Ask your readers

While you’re doing all this editing, don’t forget to ask your beta readers and critique partners these same questions. Ask them if any characters, subplots, or scenes feel unnecessary or redundant. Ask them to point out paragraphs or sections that feel weak or purple. Take each comment into account and see what you can change to improve (and trim) the writing.

Ann Dayleview: A Case Study

I have one amazing example of overwriting and trimming to share with you. My friend Ann has a fantastic manuscript with one huge problem: it was over 200,000 words long. As a YA (young adult) fantasy. (reminder: YA fantasy should max out at about 100k words)

So she spent months trimming it down, looking for the places she could tighten her work and improve on the story.

And you know what? She cut it in half. Her manuscript is now under 110k words, which is something she can query an agent. Isn’t that incredible?! If you want to read more about how she did it, check out her blog post here! It’s really worth the read, especially if overwriting is something you’re struggling with.

I also talked to Ann, and she had a couple extra pieces of quick and dirty advice for trimming down a manuscript:

Look for eating and traveling scenes. Often, these have plenty of unnecessary material in them (I’m super guilty of too many food scenes!).
Make sure everything relates to the overall goals. I think this one is pretty self-explanatory.

It’s as simple (and as hard) as that!

Now that we’ve discussed all these points, do any of them speak to you? Have you had experience with drastic manuscript editing? What tips do you have to share for overwriting or underwriting?

Let’s chat in the comments!

And don’t forget, if you want the latest news, special extras, and a monthly roundup of the blog posts, make sure you sign up for the newsletter!

Underwriting: How Do I Write More?

Aaaand we’re back to our regularly-scheduled writing posts! A couple weeks ago, I introduced the topic of word count, underwriting, and overwriting. And I admitted that I am a chronic underwriter. But what I didn’t get into was how I deal with that to get my manuscripts closer to their expected word counts.

Which brings us to today.

There are actually several ways you can bulk up your manuscript, and you’ll find next week that they are similar (if opposite) to the fixes for overwriting!

Now, first a note: word count isn’t something you HAVE to worry about during your first draft. But it is something you should consider before you try to query anyone. During my personal writing process, I write the book with a target word count in mind, plotting the major story beats at certain word counts to keep myself on track. But I usually end up finishing before I hit the final target count. And when I rewrite, I can meet or surpass that goal.

Here’s how.

Look at subplots

One of the things that can affect your word count is the number of subplots you use. Obviously, a story meant to be shorter needs to have only a few subplots, otherwise there just isn’t enough space to address everything.

But if you’re writing an epic novel or anything with more length, there is so, so much you can do. Think of personal, internal struggles. Relationships between characters. A shady past that’s catching up with someone. A mystery that’s plaguing your MC.

You have so many options to add to the story. And these can even relate to your main plot. Just remember that a subplot needs to add value to the story, so avoid adding things just for the sake of adding them. Use them to strengthen relationships or build characters or develop the world.

Think about your characters

Another possibility is to add a character or give one of your side characters scenes from their perspective. But this has the same caveat as adding subplots: make sure it’s adding value to the story. Don’t add in a useless character (I had several useless characters in the first draft of This Cursed Flame…they’re gone now!). And make sure those perspective scenes are meaningful to the plot or subplots.

Add scenes

Look critically at your manuscript. Are there places you didn’t explain enough? Are there scenes you skipped that might actually be fun to show (as long as they – you guessed it! – add value)? These spots can add words to your manuscript in fun and exciting ways.

Show, don’t tell

If you’ve been writing for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard this advice. And honestly, I can be really guilty of this one. I tend to do a lot of explaining, especially in early drafts, because I am fleshing out my world and characters for myself.

Stop it.

Your reader doesn’t need all of that explanation. Sure, a little is fine. But too much is boring. And not much of this should survive editing.

Plus, when you cut the telling and start showing (by adding scenes, inserting more natural inclusions of information, adding dialogue, etc.), you will naturally increase your word count.

Talk to your betas

The last, and sometimes easiest, way to bulk up your word count is to send it to beta readers to get opinions. Then you can see where things may actually be incomplete or confusing, places you may need extra scenes, or subplots you may have left incomplete. In your next draft, you can address these concerns by adding whatever they felt was lacking (if you agree with them…beta readers can be tricky, but that’s a topic for another day).

Final Thoughts

These are some of the simplest ways I’ve found to naturally increase your word count while adding to a story…and trust me, I’ve had to deal with this a lot! But the thing to remember is that you will find ways that work for you, and your ability to hit your target count will likely improve with every book you write, as long as you make a conscious effort to aim for that.

But until next week, when we discuss overwriting and trimming the fat from your manuscript, does anyone else have suggestions for bulking up a word count? What has worked for you? Do you ever worry about this?

Talk to me in the comments!

Of the Clouds Release Day!

Happy birthday, Quri and Sumaq!

Today is the day! “Of the Clouds” is finally out! That means those of you who have been waiting can finally get your hands on this sweet, adventurous, and hopeful retelling of Rapunzel!

Here’s the blurb:

What would you do to be free?

Shaman-in-training Quri only knows her master’s hut…until the neighboring prince arrives, showing her what life could be. But her master has other plans for Quri, and she will stop at nothing to keep her young apprentice from leaving her, including locking her in an old tomb. Now, Quri must defy her master to learn the magic she needs to free herself or lose her chance for the prince, her own happiness, and the life she wants. Can Quri find the strength she needs to save herself and the prince, or will the shaman keep her locked up forever?

This sweet and exciting retelling of Rapunzel will have you asking what you would do for your freedom.

Get it at your favorite retailer, or add to Goodreads!

And don’t worry; next we we’ll be back with our regularly scheduled posts! Underwriters and overwriters, prepare to examine your books!

Underwriting vs. Overwriting: Which Are You?

Do you write too much? Or not enough? And what does that mean for traditional publication?

There is so much advice floating around out there about how important it is to follow the expected and established word counts in the industry. For example, many agents, editors, and publishers will not consider works that fall outside of expected word count ranges, and it may even be a reason to reject the work.

The reason is pretty simple: these word counts have been established based on audience and genre, and falling outside these ranges can be indicators of serious deficiencies in the novel (or that it may not be a novel at all, but rather a shorter story) or a lack of knowledge of the industry by the author.

And honestly, with such an overcrowded market, some agents will look for any reason to reject manuscripts, just because they have so many submissions (at least that’s what I’ve heard… please, feel free to hop in the comments and correct me if I’m wrong!).

So it becomes necessary for those of us seeking traditional publication in any form to pay attention to our word counts. And that can identify your writing tendencies.

Underwriting is when a writer will finish a first draft with a lower word count than they need. So, for example, Sea of Broken Glass was only 74k words at the end of the first draft. For reference, a typical young adult fantasy (the genre for SoBG) is expected to be between 80 and 100k words. Once again, anything outside of that range, and traditional publishers or agents may reject it for not conforming to industry standards.

But when I finished at 74k, SoBG was missing a lot of scenes and details that were needed to pull the story together. And when I rewrote it (draft 2), I ended up adding over 20k words. Right now, while it’s with betas, it’s a little over 96k words long, by far the longest thing I’ve ever written.

It just didn’t start that way.

And then there’s the opposite problem, overwriting. In overwriting, a writer will write WAY more words than needed for a book. So let’s take an example from a friend of mine. She had a YA fantasy that clocked in at near 200k words… twice as much as most agents and publishers will allow. So when she went back to editing, instead of bulking it out, she had to find ways to cut her word count by a lot.

Every writer has their own style when it comes to drafting and editing, and even specific books by the same writer can be different from a writer’s “normal.” But in general, the more works a writer writes, the closer they may get to their target word counts after draft one and the more they will recognize where they tend to fall on the scale.

So that’s me! Underwriters unite!

In the next couple of weeks, we will discuss a few ways to resolve either of these issues, first for the underwriters, then for the overwriters. Hopefully with a few tips and tricks up your sleeve, you can figure out how to drag your novel closer to its target word count.

Until then, let’s talk in the comments! Where do you fall on this spectrum? Do you follow traditional word counts for your works?

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NEWS!

Of the Clouds releases next Saturday, so Friday’s post will be moved to Saturday, and this blog post series will continue after that! Hooray!!!

Pinterest for Writers

Confused how Pinterest can help your writing? Read on!

If you’re anything like me, you love to save things. Pictures, old notes, that weird looking rock you found on a trail that one time.

But did you know there’s a digital way to make that work for your writing?

Yup, I’m talking Pinterest here. Digital hoarding. Er… digital collecting.

You may already be familiar with Pinterest, but if not, basically it’s a place where you can save (pin) pictures linked to websites, or just pictures you upload yourself. It’s just like the corkboard you might have over your desk, but you can also use it to link back to websites you want to remember.

And that opens up worlds of possibility for us as writers. But what ways can we make this work for us?

To start, we can create boards with subdivisions… basically the way I handle it is to create a board for a book or topic, then subdivide it into things like the world, specific characters, etc. I did this a lot for my WIP, Sea of Broken Glass. Check it out!

By using it this way, you can give yourself ideas for how to describe a certain character or things to place in your world. For me, it helps me to flesh out each element of the world. It helps me organize my thoughts and ideas (in conjunction with my handy story notebook).

When I’m researching, I can add or create pins with information I may need later, like statistics. I did this when I was working on Life After College, an adult mainstream book that I have on hold right now.

And beyond that, it helps me set the tone for my writing. It gives me feelings and inspires my mood to set me in the right mindspace for the world and the characters. It puts me there.

And that’s another way you can use Pinterest boards. You can create mood boards, like I did for This Cursed Flame which include elements that are simply meant to inspire you and place you in the world, rather than just help you with worldbuilding.

And if you look at that mood board again, there’s another thing we writers can use it for: marketing and sharing our work.

Once I complete a work, I make sure to include an image of the cover with a link to purchase it in the board. I also use Pinterest on occasion to share bits of my blog or pictures I’ve made for writers.

Really, there are tons of possibilities. All you have to do is sit down and start scrolling and pinning. There’s plenty of time to organize and pare it down to make it be the board you need it to be. And I do want to be clear here: I am not getting paid to endorse Pinterest. I am simply sharing it as a tool I use and have heard other authors lamenting their confusion. Hopefully this clears that up and gives you some ideas to kick-start your own work!

Happy writing!

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Your turn!

Do you use Pinterest? Do you use it for your writing? What are your feelings on it? Has it helped you? Or is it more of a distraction? Tell me in the comments!