Editing: Chop & Delete

I believe it is apparent that writers love words, and often, we write more words than necessary. For example, the first draft of my novel averaged around 5500-6000 words… per chapter.

Yes. I know that is a lot, but never fear! (Currently striking a power pose: fist on my hips, cape flying valiantly behind me, my chin tilted towards the sky while the sunset glows at my back.) Kidding. It’s too early for the sunset.

Back to the point, though. Lowering the chapter-to-chapter word count, whilst retaining the heart/soul of my story, is a major goal of mine, and probably of all authors. But it isn’t always easy, is it?

Do you ever feel like every word in your story is important and that you can’t possibly delete anything? Yes, that’s how I’ve felt. All those 1000-word descriptions and 2000-word character thought monologues we believe are important, and at the time, they are.

How? Because as the author, you need to understand your world and you need to understand your character. A way to do that is to write like you have to describe every little detail to yourself! I go into all of this in my world-building series here.

But once you know your world/character, when you rewrite, focus on streamlining your plot and story. Your reader isn’t going to care that much about those little details that break up the story.

Here are some tips:

• If you’re unsure if a scene needs to stay in your story, ask what does it bring to the table – how does it move the plot forward?

Does it bring your story to a full stop and take it down some lengthy dead-end path? If you think of a scene mid-writing and would like to add it (like I’ve done a thousand times), then write it down and let it fester you a bit. Find 2 reasons (at least) that it contributes to the story. If you just say, for example, a lengthy inner-thought monologue your character has just builds up your character and nothing else… then really look at whether you need to keep it.

Another good tip: if you must convince yourself to keep it… then it’s probably not that integral to your story. Trust me: the delete button can be your friend. Oftentimes, it’s your best friend!

• Find some ways to cut down on word count. Okay, so you’ve decided to keep one (or two, three, four, etc.) of your “extra” scenes. Great. Now you should focus on how to get that word-count down.

Part of this will come with experience and instinct, but some things to look out for are those sneaky “To Be” Verbs:

• Am

• Is

• Were

• Was

• Are

• Been

• Being

Why should you try to get rid of some of these? Well, when used excessively (in the same way as adverbs and adjectives), it can take away from the quality of your writing by creating frequencies of passive voice.

Ex. (passive) The ball was thrown by Joe. [6 words] Vs. (active) Joe threw the ball. [4 words.]

Yeah, I know this example only makes a 2-word difference, but that will add up, and eventually, you’ll lose a big chunk of the total word count. Plus, it makes the sentences more concise. You can almost always replace “be-verbs” with stronger, more vivid verbs that add an extra level of creativity to your story!

Same with adverbs and adjectives. If you’ve joined my FB group, then you might’ve seen my recent Fiction-ary Friday, where I joke about adverbs. While I wrote it to be funny, there is some truth to it. The overuse of adjectives (the large, beautiful, and red flower) and/or adverbs (he talked loudly and forcefully) takes all the effort you’ve put into writing your story… and squashes it. Okay, it’s not that dramatic, but if you’re constantly using adjectives, adverbs, and “to-be” verbs, the structure can get redundant, the writing can become shallow, and the reader can start to pull back from the story they want to be invested in. Little things like this in writing make a huge difference!

But I also want you to remember writing isn’t as clear-cut as some make it out to be. While it might be nice to have, there’s no “formula” to use when trying to engage readers. “Rules” exist to guide you in the right direction; they aren’t there to dictate the way you write. Sometimes, you might need to bend – even break – the rules of “creative writing.” It depends on what you need and what you’re aiming for.

• When you’re struggling with the word count, ask: What is the pacing – how fast or slow do I want to take things?

I cannot stress this enough: Use word count to your advantage.

At first, I didn’t understand the absolute importance of the sentence, paragraph, and chapter length. I didn’t realize these “measurements” in a book changed the structure, and I certainly didn’t how to use them. When I first started out writing, I assumed the longer and fancier a sentence/paragraph/chapter was, the better and more engaging it was. I was an author focused on showcasing my own ability instead of a writer focused on telling an amazing story. Thus, my sentences ran long, my paragraphs… oh, they were astronomical. Basically, I’d take a complex sentence and double, sometimes triple it, then repeat it about a thousand times. This, my friends, is called rambling, and it is the quickest way to kill your reader’s excitement.

Rambling is the murderer of focus.

(Okay, maybe the exception is when you as the author are focused on what you’re rambling about, but for the reader… just no.)

To mitigate this, you have to understand how to use word count to your advantage: allow it to manipulate the pace of your scene/chapter/story.

For instance, a longer chapter focused on a single event slows down the pacing of the story. Your character is in a certain situation for a longer period, and so is your reader. They’re festering on it, turning the thought or theme over in their metaphysical “hands,” inspecting it, absorbing it. Time, for your character and readers, moves slower.

On the other hand, a short chapter that perhaps covers either one or many quick, progressive events, kicks up the pace a little. No longer do you focus on one thing. The clock is ticking, suspense is rising and it’s about to explode! The time it takes for your reader to get from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph is a fraction of what it is when they’re in a slower chapter.

A slower-paced chapter might have a longer word count, which causes the reader to spend more time in it. It’s the opposite with a fast-paced chapter. Same thing with paragraphs and sentences. Short, clipped sentences quicken the pace and vice versa.

The duration of a scene determines the number of words you’ll use.

Keep this in mind as you edit!

Using all of these basic techniques, I’ve managed to compress the typical 5500-6000-word chapters of mine into ones that barely go over 4000 words. I’ve also chopped out a bunch of scenes, shortening what took 12 chapters to occur into 6. My story is more streamlined and, believe it or not, I created a more vivid world using half the words. I cannot stress this enough:

Chopping and deleting extra scenes, monologues, and descriptions thickens your story and makes it that much harder for your reader to get out of what they’re reading.

It helps create an adventure they want to escape to, not from, and as authors, that’s what we’re here for.

Let’s bring your story to life.

Keep Writing Always,

-Elizabeth Mae Wolfram