Yes! There's the moment--or longer--of feeling the "impossible." The only antidote is to wade in and start to work. Even with just a shorter section. And always the reward.
I’ve done this, and turned it into a kind of sport. Go through and see how concisely you can convey every scene, every action, every speech. Real colloquial speech tends to be very concise—full of acronyms, contractions, nicknames, allusions to songs, etc. My original model for writing was Mary Renault, who is masterful at using the RIGHT word, not a handful that approximated her meaning.
Omg cutting down is SO HARD! Esp massive word counts like this one. I expect, if my book gets agented at 105k words, I will have to do the same. So THANK GOD you wrote this post sharing the inner workings of your process and just the sheer rigour of having to do this at all!
My ms was already cut down quite a bit. I also found a joy in it! Chopping out scenes which didn’t lend themselves to the plot, as well as slashing those adverbs and repeated lines (so many!).
I had to write this post. I know how overwhelming this part of writing can be. But to let it go feels like wandering around with an eight-month pregnancy forever. (I do not want to think about that for too long...)
My take is that these last steps to bring a ms. to its final form is to honour it. To give it the time it needs.
I had gone through--I thought--and polished. Yes, I'd cut scenes and threads that were not going anywhere. "Finding" repetitive bits. And now the "proportionate" cut. Knowing that if and when it sells, it has yet more to grow with an editor. And make the move from story-to-book. Writing is re-writing.
So glad you found joy in the process! That is key!
Since I living in San Diego (and taken a stay vacation at the Hotel Del) I applaud you for your good fortune in having this as the place to do your editing. The weather is pretty perfect right now, cool at night, enough variety during the day with some clouds and fog for some great sunsets and sunrises, and warm enough mid day to sit outside. I am an over-writer, but I have learned to love the cutting process, and the kinds of cuts you are making sound perfect. And every once in a while I find a whole paragraph (usually redundant) or a whole scene I can cut, and whoop and holler with the sheer joy of seeing the word count go down. Of course, that often is followed by me finding some place where I need to add for clarity...but as long as the total count goes down I'm happy. Have fun!
The Coronado where they filmed Some Like It Hot! No way! I chopped 20000 words off my novel bringing it down to 90000. But the cut was all beginning novel intro world building. Still I am afraid I was too cut-happy and have thrown the baby out with the bath water. Kill your darlings? Jeez this is tough. BUT your suggestions are so helpful and yes I see how I over do those bits of dialogue and soften the impact of certain sentences with too much padding.
Love This Post! I mostly write poetry - but at present, I am attempting to fit my daily words into the form of a dizain, a ten line poem with specific rhyme pattern. It prevents meandering, and when it works, it works. It requires a similar focus, and this post resonates. Seeing exactly what you cut is very helpful.
Oh my gosh Alison.. the only easy thing about all this is “sitting on a balcony with palm trees waving about”. It seems there is no easy part to this process called writing. I am sure you will manage though and it must be great having an editor on your side.
Stephen King aims for 20% less in his final revisions. A good goal. The dialogue example is spot on. No need to say Charlie was irritated if the dialogue already shows it. Google “The Paramedic Method”? “Be” verbs and excessive prepositions can be symptoms of wordiness. “Ran” is better than “would run” -- simple past always superior because it roots in one place/time rather than generalizing about many places/times. Good luck!
Good quote and number from King. I do so like his "On Writing!" One of the best.
As for tense, that's interesting. In my story there's a significant death, and the before and after of that. I'm finding my use of past perfect has a real role. But yes, I scrutinize each use of it.
"Symptoms" is a good word--a flag to look at, and for more. And then comes the decision to cut or leave.
Thank you so much for sharing this inside view of a complicated editing task that many of us face (when we are lucky). I found your examples instructive and can see how much focus it would take to make those changes. Good luck with your work! I am so glad to read that you are somewhere lovely.
Our obsession with word counts is very modern and like a lot of modern things can feel unhealthy at times, enabled by real-time display of document stats in word processors.
I wonder if your agent is really saying she wants to cut the page length. Just as the running times of movies and plays tend to oscillate around something just shy of the 2-hour mark (the 4-hour Hamlet is almost always cut by at least an hour), so the ideal novel length seems to fall somewhere less than 250 pages.
At 112K words, are you hitting 300 pp or more in a paperback? Maybe reducing pages is the goal, not the word count per se. Most writing is flabby, but mightn’t squeezing every sentence risk distorting your natural voice? Cutting whole chapters, the way you cut your square footage, might be ruthless, but cleaner.
Frank, you raise a good point. (A number of them, really, with the words about unhealthy modern things!) The distinction between page count and word count is useful to consider.
But in this case, the story is complete. Chapters or scenes that had to go have long been cut. So it's down to word.
I'm being very conscious of voice, and not losing it. While my agent would like for it to be close to 90, I suspect that it'll more likely be between 95-98. That's my goal. For now.
If at any point I begin to feel that the cutting is taking something it shouldn't, I'll stop.
My hope in posting these thoughts and examples is that readers see what the task is, and how one writer goes about it. I'm grateful for the notes and thoughts posted. Very good!
I always awe my students when I point out the Stephen King reportedly cuts 10% of every first draft when he sits down to work on his second draft (according to his book On Writing). When I consider he must cut to get down 10%. Yikes.
It's knowing about how you write too; some over-write, others under-write. My next novel also needs some cuts, but nothing like this. This one is long--over 400 pages to begin.
Agree! Journalism is at least great for teaching brevity!
Yes! There's the moment--or longer--of feeling the "impossible." The only antidote is to wade in and start to work. Even with just a shorter section. And always the reward.
I’ve done this, and turned it into a kind of sport. Go through and see how concisely you can convey every scene, every action, every speech. Real colloquial speech tends to be very concise—full of acronyms, contractions, nicknames, allusions to songs, etc. My original model for writing was Mary Renault, who is masterful at using the RIGHT word, not a handful that approximated her meaning.
This is very interesting!
"Sport"--speaking of right word!--is perfect. I have to remove myself, and push the time and energy to be about the story. An intense game.
Thank you, Joan!
Omg cutting down is SO HARD! Esp massive word counts like this one. I expect, if my book gets agented at 105k words, I will have to do the same. So THANK GOD you wrote this post sharing the inner workings of your process and just the sheer rigour of having to do this at all!
My ms was already cut down quite a bit. I also found a joy in it! Chopping out scenes which didn’t lend themselves to the plot, as well as slashing those adverbs and repeated lines (so many!).
I had to write this post. I know how overwhelming this part of writing can be. But to let it go feels like wandering around with an eight-month pregnancy forever. (I do not want to think about that for too long...)
My take is that these last steps to bring a ms. to its final form is to honour it. To give it the time it needs.
I had gone through--I thought--and polished. Yes, I'd cut scenes and threads that were not going anywhere. "Finding" repetitive bits. And now the "proportionate" cut. Knowing that if and when it sells, it has yet more to grow with an editor. And make the move from story-to-book. Writing is re-writing.
So glad you found joy in the process! That is key!
Hotel Del Coronado!And Frank Baum! 😍 I love cutting stuff. Although you wouldn't know it. 😂
My second time here. I love the old vibe, the undulating floors.
Thanks for sharing this and the examples. It's going to be a much better, tighter read when you are done. Keep the faith. It will be worth it
Thank you, Cali!
Since I living in San Diego (and taken a stay vacation at the Hotel Del) I applaud you for your good fortune in having this as the place to do your editing. The weather is pretty perfect right now, cool at night, enough variety during the day with some clouds and fog for some great sunsets and sunrises, and warm enough mid day to sit outside. I am an over-writer, but I have learned to love the cutting process, and the kinds of cuts you are making sound perfect. And every once in a while I find a whole paragraph (usually redundant) or a whole scene I can cut, and whoop and holler with the sheer joy of seeing the word count go down. Of course, that often is followed by me finding some place where I need to add for clarity...but as long as the total count goes down I'm happy. Have fun!
Thank you, Mary Lou! You may hear the odd "whoop!!" from over here :)
The Coronado where they filmed Some Like It Hot! No way! I chopped 20000 words off my novel bringing it down to 90000. But the cut was all beginning novel intro world building. Still I am afraid I was too cut-happy and have thrown the baby out with the bath water. Kill your darlings? Jeez this is tough. BUT your suggestions are so helpful and yes I see how I over do those bits of dialogue and soften the impact of certain sentences with too much padding.
Yes--that place!
You do have to feel around in the water to see if the baby's in there! Stir it up too much and it gets rather dirty looking and tough to see.
As I go, I'll keep setting aside examples of the cuts. Including pieces I decide NOT to cut.
Love This Post! I mostly write poetry - but at present, I am attempting to fit my daily words into the form of a dizain, a ten line poem with specific rhyme pattern. It prevents meandering, and when it works, it works. It requires a similar focus, and this post resonates. Seeing exactly what you cut is very helpful.
Oh my gosh Alison.. the only easy thing about all this is “sitting on a balcony with palm trees waving about”. It seems there is no easy part to this process called writing. I am sure you will manage though and it must be great having an editor on your side.
Stephen King aims for 20% less in his final revisions. A good goal. The dialogue example is spot on. No need to say Charlie was irritated if the dialogue already shows it. Google “The Paramedic Method”? “Be” verbs and excessive prepositions can be symptoms of wordiness. “Ran” is better than “would run” -- simple past always superior because it roots in one place/time rather than generalizing about many places/times. Good luck!
Good quote and number from King. I do so like his "On Writing!" One of the best.
As for tense, that's interesting. In my story there's a significant death, and the before and after of that. I'm finding my use of past perfect has a real role. But yes, I scrutinize each use of it.
"Symptoms" is a good word--a flag to look at, and for more. And then comes the decision to cut or leave.
Thanks for the "good luck!"
This is so much work but also so worth it. I had to get rid of 75% of my belongings when I moved to Spain so the analogy is a good one.
It does have the same feel!
Thank you so much for sharing this inside view of a complicated editing task that many of us face (when we are lucky). I found your examples instructive and can see how much focus it would take to make those changes. Good luck with your work! I am so glad to read that you are somewhere lovely.
Our obsession with word counts is very modern and like a lot of modern things can feel unhealthy at times, enabled by real-time display of document stats in word processors.
I wonder if your agent is really saying she wants to cut the page length. Just as the running times of movies and plays tend to oscillate around something just shy of the 2-hour mark (the 4-hour Hamlet is almost always cut by at least an hour), so the ideal novel length seems to fall somewhere less than 250 pages.
At 112K words, are you hitting 300 pp or more in a paperback? Maybe reducing pages is the goal, not the word count per se. Most writing is flabby, but mightn’t squeezing every sentence risk distorting your natural voice? Cutting whole chapters, the way you cut your square footage, might be ruthless, but cleaner.
Frank, you raise a good point. (A number of them, really, with the words about unhealthy modern things!) The distinction between page count and word count is useful to consider.
But in this case, the story is complete. Chapters or scenes that had to go have long been cut. So it's down to word.
I'm being very conscious of voice, and not losing it. While my agent would like for it to be close to 90, I suspect that it'll more likely be between 95-98. That's my goal. For now.
If at any point I begin to feel that the cutting is taking something it shouldn't, I'll stop.
My hope in posting these thoughts and examples is that readers see what the task is, and how one writer goes about it. I'm grateful for the notes and thoughts posted. Very good!
Thank you --
Well done! Sounds like you are a cutting-master!
This is impressive.
I always awe my students when I point out the Stephen King reportedly cuts 10% of every first draft when he sits down to work on his second draft (according to his book On Writing). When I consider he must cut to get down 10%. Yikes.
Good luck!
It's knowing about how you write too; some over-write, others under-write. My next novel also needs some cuts, but nothing like this. This one is long--over 400 pages to begin.
Excellent examples and discussion of why you were doing the cuts. The "why" matters.
It does!