FIVE WAYS CUTTING CAN IMPROVE YOUR NOVEL
“I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil.”—Truman Capote
My
first novel came in at more than 100,000 words. After editing, it went down to
93k. After it’s final proofing, it lost another 300 words. Painful? You bet!
But
what I’ve come to realize, is without exception,
anything I’ve sliced and diced has become a much more polished work.
Tightening
and trimming can be a difficult lesson, but after my second novel was edited, I
actually had to add a few things.
Things
I learned the hard way:
1. If you’re writing fiction, there is only so much the reader
wants to know about technical issues, and, in general, background information
about geography, art, science, whatever. Unless it’s vital to the story line, (
and sometimes even then ) you should keep it brief. Avoid the self-indulgence of
overloading the reader with your own knowledge of a topic.
2.
Backstory.
As a reader, I hate it. I don’t tolerate excess, and will skip over it
and only check to make sure I’m not missing anything germane to the story. When adding backstory that is necessary, try to intersperse it where it’s relevant rather
than dumping it on the reader all at one time. When fine-tuning your manuscript,
remember when it comes to backstory, succinct wins over wordy.
3.
Check and double check for repetitions.
Occasionally the reader does need to be reminded of something that happened a
few chapters ago, but unnecessary repetition is annoying. Cut it.
4.
Run-on character descriptions. Like backstory,
keep descriptions short, and break up details of the description with dialogue or action.
Better yet, have your characters' actions describe something about his
appearance.
5.
Dialogue – Leave out any that’s unnecessary. The
reader doesn’t want to hear small talk! Break up any long speech with details
about the speaker or the listener.
Dear readers,
I enjoy hearing all of your
comments. Please share your own experiences with cutting your work. If you’re
reading this in a climate like Wisconsin, stay warm! I advise curling up with a
warm cat, a cozy throw, a glass of wine and a good book.
Thanks for visiting,
Marla
Writer Dave Here,
ReplyDeleteI think in your first line it should be 100,000!
My novellas are so fast paced and short that I don't have much cutting to do. You have some good points here for writers to remember.
Keep up the good work.
Your Friend,
Writer Dave
Wow! Bad oversight. (I'm a terrible proofer, that's why I have to pay for one! Thanks for letting me know. I'm lucky you read it right away.
DeleteThink novellas don't neet cutting? There is tightening too, which can be just as important. I always recommend using a pro if you can possible afford one.
Thanks so much for stopping by and finding my error!
Marla
Hi Marla,
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoying your blog. My first book, a non-fiction narrative about my dad will be released this May. I can definitely say some pretty big (actually REALLY big) scissors went at the first draft. I was very lucky in that I had a great editor and I learned so much. Otherwise this process might have left me scarred.
Thanks,
Danielle - daniellegomes.com
Hi Danielle,
DeleteNIce to hear from you! Yes, that first edit is a real eye-opener. First few times you have to delete an
entire scene you labored over, is really painful. I applaud you for turning your work over to a pro and following his/her advice.
Good luck with the novel,
Marla
I actually have the opposite problem with my short stories--they're always too short! I leave out anything remotely resembling excess, and then I have to go back and add in the details.
ReplyDeleteI think for short stories you're doing it the right way, Kate. You don't see what's missing until the final product. Much easier than trying to do it with a novel! I've done it both ways and prefer yours.
DeleteI think it's simpler to see what's missing than to wade through what to cut.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a nice Sunday.
Marla
Great post, Marla. I completely agree. In fact, I just posted similar writing advice for marketing writers on my own blog. :)
ReplyDeleteIt can be amazing how cutting helps a work. I wrote a short story, rather long one actually, that I had to trim by about 2k words to enter it into a contest. Didn't win the contest, but sure improved the story!
DeleteGlad you wrote on it, too. It's a lesson worth repeating.
Thanks for visiting,
Marla
For my YA science fiction, the word count came at almost 113,000 words and after many revisions, I managed to cut down the word count to 87,000 words. The five points you gave were spot on and excellent. I'll keep them in mind for my next novel! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteWow! You beat my record. That is a LOT of cutting. Funny, we do it so grudgingly, but the result
Deleteis always worth it.
Good luck with your novel. Nice to meet you,
Marla
Thank you for number 3! It drives me crazy when I am reading and things are repeated over and over. As a writer, I don't repeat something unless I have received more than one request from my beta readers asking for a refresher.
ReplyDeleteGood plan, Rebeka. I belong to a critique group of five writers, and they help to keep me in line. I tend to repeat words I like, and sometimes expressions. It's also hard to know where the reader needs something repeated since, as the author, we are too close to it to recognize the need!
DeleteThanks for stopping by. You have a nice website!
Marla
Hi there this is somewhat of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have
ReplyDeleteto manually code with HTML. I'm starting a blog soon but have no coding skills so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Hello,
DeleteI have no idea what WYSIWYG is! I'm somewhat of a techno dummy myself. I do know I don't have to do a manual HTML to use blogspot. I found blogspot fairly easy to use, although it does take a little "trial and error" time to set up your site. You can always check the forums for advice. A lot of people use Wordpress and swear by it, but for me, Blogspot was simpler.
Good luck!
Marla
What else do I chop? Lengthy internal dialog. I don't mind when a character internalizes a moment or experience, but I think it should be treated like back story, used sparingly and shown more than told.
ReplyDeleteYes! I overlooked that one. It is just like backstory. And I hate anything italicized that goes on for more than a page. Especially dream sequences that go on and on. I prefer short and to the point! Must be why Patterson's books are so popular; no excess!
DeleteThanks for commenting, Crystal. Nice to meet you.
Marla
My stories began a year ago as flash fiction all under 5K words, my work today is still considered flash fiction, but I am now up to 20K words.
ReplyDeleteThis change/improvement has brought on a lot more headaches. Headaches such as perpetual editing, rewrites and the chopping of unnecessary verbiage of course. It's all painful as you state but a necessary evil in the editing process.
Thanks Marla for the article!
Hi!
DeleteI've written a couple flash fiction pieces when I was active in Fanstory. They have many contests and their flash rules were usually only 500 words. The qualifications for flash must be changing. Flash was hard for me to write because I usually write novels.Cutting is even more vital for flash. Writing flash will be great experience for when and if you ever decide to write longer pieces. You'll have a built in excess detector!
Nice to hear from you,
Marla
Am guilty of all five examples shared above, and thanks to this timely post will comb through my work-in-progress to fine tune, or rid these transgressions out altogether. Thanks for sharing...stay warm amid Old Man Winter's wrath.
ReplyDeleteHi Alan,
DeleteI'm so happy to hear it helped. We all are guilty of over-writing now and then. The trick is being able to recognize your own excess verbiage and that can be difficult. Being a member of a critique group helps or as mentioned above, using beta readers. But be sure your Beta readers are NOT family members or friends you know would have a difficult time giving you the real truth about your writing!
Thanks for reading and leaving a comment,
Marla
Marla, a writer can show more with what's hidden than what's narrated. My first draft was over 120,000 words, the published novel went down to 93,000. All the above in writing will make readers think the writer is patronizing them or think readers are dumb and need to be told, and told, and told, and reminded, reminded, reminded. See how ugly it is? :)
ReplyDeleteA story starts in the imagination of the writer and has to end in the imagination of the reader. I also cut description of physical characteristics of my...characters. Unless they are needed for the story, the reader has to fill gaps and become part of the story.
Hiding and cutting is a fine arts.
Cheers,
Massimo
Hello, Massimo,
DeleteYou did even more cutting on your first draft than I had to on mine! I agree that it is not going to help a book if you write everything in your thoughts! That's just self-indulgent, and NOT what the reader is looking for. You are on the right track. Good luck with your work.
Have a lovely evening,
Marla
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