After I got notification from DDP that I had been picked up for their 2013 release schedule, one of the things that really made me smile was that I would get to revisit my favorite world in these things called "sequels". It really is fun to write, and unfortunately, the words just pile up. I mean seriously...when I say the novel writes itself...IT REALLY DOES seem to write itself. I had days where I would do 6000 words in like three hours because I couldn't stop.
I had no problem coming up with content...like 120,000 words of content. And here's the problem. I'm only 3/4 through my story arc of the second book and I'm already at that word count. To quote my friend Steph Schmidt..."EEEEP!"
Luckily, I started this project last year about this time because I was bored. This was before I had ventured into the world of blogging which happened in late January 2011. Well, back in September 2010, I stopped working on that project because I realized that it may never see the light of day unless I published it myself or put it on a website somewhere. So I threw it in the closet, mothballed it, and wrote another book. This was a simple fantasy that topped out at 80k words that I started to query only recently.
Well, with the news from DDP...I threw that fantasy back in the closet and dusted off the ole sequel to re-read, edit, and finish so that I could send it to the editor that helps me get manuscripts ready for professional editors to look at :). As I'm re-reading and editing it myself, I see all over the place where I have taken liberal tangents. I still love these tangents, but if I have no intention on following up on them, they really don't belong in this novel. And my story is so huge that it will take multiple volumes to tell it right. I know I really shouldn't wander like this. So I'm having to slash paragraphs, pages, and even maybe a chapter and it's hard...it's really hard. However, I think I can slim this beast to 115,000 words and then finish it in another 25,000 words. 140,000 words is huge, I know. But it is a sequel, and the first book is 120,000 words so this is only stretching that quota out by 20%. That's acceptable, right?
When I finally get the courage to talk to my publisher about it, probably closer to this time next year, I hope that they don't mind that I write fat novels. Really, as an author, I despise word count. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. Why oh why must brevity be my Task Master?
Is anyone else out there like me? Do any of you writers struggle to fit within certain word counts?
I have the opposite problem. I'm a very lean writer, so I struggle to add things to a manuscript to make larger word counts without just repeating myself. It's really hard to find a balance between the two extremes.
ReplyDeleteI am in the same boat as Cherie, although I do love to read a big fat novel every once in a while.
ReplyDeleteI kind of envy you because you can strip it all down to the real story which is a lot easier than trying to come up with new plot ideas :)
I've never had that problem until my most recent story. The main character just won't shut up. I swear, I'm going to have to insert a scene where someone smacks him on the head and he loses the ability to speak to cut the word count :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting question. I once wrote a 2,000 word short story (as a very novice fiction writer) that everyone said should have been a novella. I later wrote a 6,000 short story that I recently cut down to 2,000 words. I thought I wouldn't be able to do it without losing the essense of the story, but the story became tighter as a result of this cull.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your own editing. :O)
I had that problem the last couple years. The first draft of "Where You Belong" was 220,000 words. I cut it down to about 170,000 by taking out some excess stuff. I could probably get it down to 120,000 if I'd wanted to, which I didn't.
ReplyDeleteSome other ones got up to 130-160K last year. Though this year I've topped out at 98K so that's probably better. Though you've seen my outline for my new project which is 38 chapters. That could easily get up to 120K I imagine, which is why Saturday I tried to cut back on a few items in the outline to speed it up a bit.
Look how long this comment is!
I've been doing a lot of free writing lately and it's always funny to re-read something after a few months. Most times I end up deleting paragraphs and recently got rid of a whole chapter. The whole process is frustrating and it makes me think of actors when they see a final cut of a movie and realize that their best scenes are on the cutting room floor.
ReplyDeleteWait till you come to my age, that problem of writing out of context will be followed by talking out of context if you do not watch out.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words. A lot of people told my siblings and me that it was a blessing in disguise when our Mom passed away only after four months of being a stroke victim.
I understand this issue well. Not tangents, but presenting a humongous story over all. I have a couple of series that will be doorstoppers, but the rest I've decided to keep under 100K each. Fits the market better, for the genre, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI took a gander at one of my old Sci Fi drafts over the weekend. Cringe-inducing.
Hi Michael. Thanks for the congratulations note on my blog!
ReplyDeleteConcision is a challenge for me, but I can only attempt to be concise after I've let myself write freely. Trying to start the writin process with a low word count in mind is a sure-fire way to strangle my own creativity.
Two things that helped me--reading all the way through Strunk and White's The Element's of Style. Secondly, and more important for me, was to make sure I knew the message of my story. If the scene or tangent or character didn't somehow support that message, it had to go.
Elise: Thank you for visiting. :) And you totally deserve the congratulations. You had an amazing day.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do struggle but in the other end of the spectrum. I don't write enough. I find I have to go back and provide more detail. Maybe catching your disease would be a good thing ;)
ReplyDeleteGood luck! You'll do just great and can't wait to buy your book!
p.s. that was my comment just now. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteTo a degree, I am like you. I enjoy when a novel takes me to a new place. To build a world takes time.
ReplyDeleteThe first draft of my first novel was 477,000 words long. That's not a typo, and I'm not joking. I just had no idea how to write well at the time, or what was a decent word count for what I was writing.
ReplyDeleteI've since managed to cut it to 150,000, without losing a single important part of the main story. I still have to snip a bit more, but I'm working on that with my CPs.
Cutting is always a little painful. I tend to write on the lean side though more than the long side. I still hate editing more than anything though. It's just so boring.
ReplyDeleteSo far I haven't had any difficulties with word count, but I am not nearly as quick a writer as you! I think it has something to do with the sheer amount of research time it takes to write historical fiction, umm, OK, and the fact I have difficulty giving myself permission to JUST WRITE!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I've left a reply to your comment on Bird's-eye View, http://michellefayard.blogspot.com/2011/08/is-it-safe-to-put-your-work-out-there.html.
The first novel I finished (which was earlier this year in February) came out at several hundred thousand words, with way too many subplots and whatnot clogging up the main story. I've done some rewrites on it, and I'm ending up having to cut a lot of the original.
ReplyDeleteHeh. I struggle to get toward my word counts. During a first draft I'm usually busy pushing toward the action & suspense, etc., that I sort of ignore adding those silly details and scenery stuff. All fluff anyway not like people will read it ;)
ReplyDeleteI do the opposite - a bit too little on everything. My worst critics say they don't understand what my character is thinking/feeling. I'm like, "Really? How would you feel if xyz happened to you?"
ReplyDeleteSo, I use those extra words to go in and have the character mull about what's going on. At first, this irritated me to no end. "What about showing versus telling?!" I yelled at nobody. "Do I have to spoon-feed it by telling? What the hell?"
But then, I had the character think about her thoughts in MY WAY, and LO, I hated it not.
So, yeah, sweetie, you'll probably have to do some cuts. But do them YOUR WAY and all will be swell!
I fall firmly in the opposite problem camp. My stories are all too short. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteWhat have your beta readers said about it? They might have some good ideas about what to cut (if cutting is what's needed).
Not only are my stories already short, I have an extreme knack at cutting off the fat.
ReplyDeleteMy WIP started at 50k. After first edits it was somewhere between 48-49k. I edited my first 7k and cut off over a thousand words. My novel is going to be so short!
I don't know... I'm not sure I can get on board the whole word count train. I mean, tell the story and tell the story well and take as many words as you need to tell the story. Don't worry about how many words that is if you've done it well. That being said, I did say "tell the story." So, if you have stuff in there that isn't the story, it should probably come out. Probably.
ReplyDeleteMy first novel is at 120k, and there's nothing in there that isn't important to that book or stuff coming up in subsequent books. I don't think it's too long. No one who's read it says it's too long either. Although, my daughter is daunted by the size of it (but she is only 8).
Hilarious. Also, weird. I was planning on putting up an almost identical post on Wednesday about my inability to self edit for content. I actually submitted a novel to a publisher that contains a scene that describes the MC complaining, in detail, about how he screwed up his hot dog by adding to many ingredients. It just goes on and on. George R.R. Martin is ruining my writing.
ReplyDeleteOh, Michael I hear your pain! I have a problem with over writing, too. My debut novel was a painful 155,000 words, and it took me ages to finally get it down to 118,000 - can I say persistence or editing freak? You just KNOW that 155K isn't going to cut it. With my debut I said the same thing 3 times!
ReplyDeleteThe good thing is that I learned a lot while writing that first novel, and so I think I'll keep an eye on the tautology, which is my biggest problem. I can now see that no, don't use three words to say that, use one. It's a gradual process.
However, I like FAT books! LOL. I want to give my readers a good satisfying read, not a skinny novel of 250 pages! They'll be paying good money to buy the book so I want them to get a good read. Quality is more important than quanity of course, but why not have both?
P.S - So cool to hear you talking about your editor and stuff, look forward to hearing more about your process.