Scene level revisions 2: Cutting down words
Hi everyone,
I finished my scene level edits, plus a few read throughs!!
And……
I broke 100K words!!!
I’m at 99,462 words. Down from 160,812 words. My aim was to be 100K words so I can query in September, so I’m all set.
I have my query letter finished, but I still have the dreaded synopsis to write. I did write a version for the romance course, but I'm not happy with it. Also, some of the plot has changed since I wrote it.
I sent out my novel to a beta reader (not a family member or a friend) and got her feedback yesterday-the first person to read the entire manuscript who isn’t me, and…drum roll…she loved it and wasn’t confused! I was very worried about this as I have 4 types of magic-each with different rules and a dozen magical creatures, not to mention all my world building as it is second world fantasy.
In summary, she loved it (it bears repeating), she wasn’t confused (so does this), and she said it was her top read this year. She also finished it early and said it was a fast read. Her suggestion for improvements is more description here and there, to slow down a few places for the reader to linger in big payoff moments. Which absolutely makes sense since I deleted 61K words. And perhaps made the manuscript a little too lean. I’ll add in a few lines here and there. The trick now is to add words in strategically without breaking my 100K ceiling.
After I add in the beta reader feedback, I’ll send it out for more beta reading (also not family) with the same questions.
While I’m waiting, I’m embarking on another random draft. To cut down stubborn words this month, I read my manuscript in a random order so I wouldn’t get caught up in the story-I’ll explain this lower down. However, this time the random draft will be to check page and line level things. Is my POV character present on each page (or just a silent observer), do I have at least one instance of micro-tension on each page? Am I repeating words close together? Is this the best word? Any words that are redundant and can be deleted (at this point there shouldn’t be many, right????). I’m on track to finish this random draft, incorporate more beta reader feedback, and do another read through—checking for typos only—by August 1st. I’m excited.
Random draft:
I explained this in an earlier post because it isn’t the first random draft I’ve done. I did one for my last manuscript (the one that died in the query trenches). I find doing a random draft very useful because I see things I don’t ordinarily see. It’s painful though, because I’ve literally taken the fun out of reading the manuscript—the story flow. I cut 7,113 words in my recent random draft so it achieved exactly what I wanted.
A quick recap:
Overall, during my scene level revisions in May and June, I cut 51,229 words (31.76% of the entire manuscript). I combined two scenes and deleted two short scenes, but otherwise it was all line level edits.
In a fast read through, I cut an additional 3,008 words.
After this I listened to my book on 2 times speed to check everything was okay, that I hadn’t deleted important stuff. I didn’t delete anything here. When I finished listening to it, I was happy the book was better and not worse.
I still wanted to cut more words, though, (I was at 106,575 words), so I embarked on my random draft and cut 7,113 words getting me down to 99,462 words.
I’m super happy with this and it means that my new process works. I did take 2 months to do the reverse outline (I don’t think I need all of the outlines I did) and then took 2 months tightening the scenes, deleting and refining words.
I’m at the beta reader stage now. I still foreseen cutting words in my future as feedback comes in because I have to make room for the new/better/necessary words.
I’ll let you know how my beta reader feedback goes. But once I incorporate it (I’ll have six readers in total), I’ll proof read the manuscript and be ready to query in September.
Yay! I’m excited.
Happy writing, or deleting,
Joanne.
