The Dreaded Word Count Edits
How do you do the deed?

I have made this [letter] longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter.     —Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662), "Lettres provinciales", letter 16, 1657

Most of the projects I'm working on these days have tight word counts. Usually, when I write a story I just crank it out and pay little attention to how many words the story actually runs. These days, (and when I'm working on a flasher), I find myself having to put in more time editing than I would under normal circumstances.

Usually, before I resort to what is for me the drastic step of cutting the content of a story, (removing a scene, for example), I'll go through the story sentence by sentence and see if I can cut a word here or modify a phrase there to tighten things up a bit.

Obviously, this makes the prose tighter. I'm not sure if it automatically makes it better. I'm apparently Hemingwayesque in my writing style, but I don't necessarily assume that reducing word count is a sure-fire way to improve my writing.

Or is it? In his book, "On Writing," Stephen King puts it succinctly "Second Draft equals first draft minus ten percent."

So, fellow space travellers, when you sit down to edit your work, is there a tried and true method to your madness? Do you obsess about word counts? Is there a formula or checklist that you follow, or do you take a more holistic approach?   —J.T. Benjamin

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From Meri
Dreaded is definitely the word. Word counts make me crazy because sometimes they mean cutting scenes that you really don't want to do without, whether it's a hot extra or just makes more sense/becomes more realistic with it there. My first approach is to again go by the 'cut every sentence to within an inch of it's life' rule, going through and little by little cutting a few words or a sentence out to bring it down. I find that I usually end up five or ten words under the limit doing it this way, and editors will often cut it further anyway to, I assume, make it fit when they make their adjustments with the other content. 

I check every now and then to see how I'm doing as I write and sometimes determine how far it's going to go that way, too.

From Louise Bohmer
I find I sometimes have to tell a story from a different angle in order to pare down an excessive word count. If I have been working on a short fiction piece for quite awhile, and I find too much explanation is coming out in the narrative—that renders it wordy and boring—I step back from the tale and see how I can condense it. I find sneaking a lot of 'important' info on the plot and characters into their dialogue helps. But then, it comes down to "How do I incorporate this info into the dialogue and still keep the characters' exchange realistic and concise."

From Gary
I do obsess about word counts because I have upper limits I can't cross because I get paid by the word. When I do my final edit I check first for weakening adjectives and adverbs, then double check adjectival phrases, to see if they're necessary. I then weed out qualifiers, and most passive tenses.

Finally, I look out for overused verbs, adjectives, and consult a thesaurus. My final check is the POV one, which is my biggest blind spot. 

From Diane
It's a great question: Is more succinct prose better prose?  I think the answer is, 'It depends...'. On the one hand, I feel fairly confident that every word I cut makes my story/novel better, but on the other hand, there are passages that I think deserve, or even need to remain slightly verbose. Sometimes feelings and imagery become lost when things are cut to the bone.

I look at Anne Rice. Her prose, although tight, (at least I think it's tight...) also tends to be a bit flowery. It's that very quality that makes her books so all-encompassing to read. Her imagery is all the more vivid for her style. Once again, that's my opinion. 

In his book, "On Writing," Stephen King puts it succinctly "Second Draft equals first draft minus ten percent."

I love this book! I took him very much to heart. After finishing my novel and after a suitable fermenting period, I began to cut mercilessly. I wasn't able to cut a full 10%. I actually ended up adding passages and some clarification along the way. I don't really recall, but I think I might have cut about 6 or 7% in the second draft.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Available at Amazon.com / Amazon UK / Amazon CA

I'll tell you what was worse, though. I found the synopsis absolute torture to write. It had a very strict wc limit. I must have cut it at least six or seven times. Finally, wonder of wonders, I got it in under the limit! 

When I sit down to write, whether it's a story or a novel, I have some vague notion of how long it should be when finished. This usually has to do with the guidelines for a particular editor or publisher. That word count is in the back of my mind. I don't really think about it when I start to write; I just write. Eventually, I'll check my wc to see if I'm headed in the right direction, and certainly again when I get close to the end.

From Dale Cole
I heard Anita Shreve on the TV tonight talking about editing. In her book 'Light on Snow,' she said that she wrote the opening scene almost 50 times. Apparently, her previous historical romance novels had been quite baroque. This time she was trying to write as simply as possible. She thought it was much more difficult to pare down her writing, but more rewarding.

When I edit my own work, sometimes I find it is the writing I am trying to save and not the story. I may have written a snappy sentence, and then find myself unwilling to cull it. Even if it did not really move the story forward. You need to be ruthless with your progeny. The writing should be the vehicle of the story and not its driver.

From Kathleen Bradean
Brevity is the soul of wit, but would I enjoy Mark Twain's stories (especially his Western adventure tales) as much if they were one liners? No. With some writers I'm willing to let the current take us as we meander along, having faith that the journey is more important than the destination, and being damned entertained along the way. For others, I enjoy their cigarette boat approach as we bear down with high power and sparse prose on the conclusion. Style, J.T., it all comes down to style. One isn't better than the other, they are simply different.

I have often commented that I suffer from TMS - too much story. I taped a note on the wall behind my computer screen that says "What Is The Story About?" That helps me to focus. When that fails, I take machete in hand and mercilessly clear cut the forest to reveal the trees. (Talk about painful!)

On rewrites, I frequently find several sentences that can be combined and cut to clarify the idea. Why say it twice? I try to chose better verbs, winnow filler, etc. -- all the common tricks of the trade to create a leaner, meaner story, but I don't do it methodically. I attack the weakest sections first and move on.

I recently submitted something with a 1500 word limit, which I hit exactly. That was hell. It was too lean for my taste. I self-impose about a 4000 word limit on most short stories, but I hit that by editing. First draft I just let it flow. Most of it has to be rewritten anyway, so why limit myself the first time around?

From Ann Regentin
How I rewrite depends on what I'm rewriting.

If it's short stories, I tend to just look things over, make sure there's nothing extra and nothing is left out. This includes words as ideas. I've removed a sentence here and added one there. For me at least, ideas take precedence over words, so if I need more words, I'll add them. However, what usually happens is that the word count falls. Not always, but usually.

When I'm working on a novel or novella, I'll actually run in through the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. Amazing what that system can catch! I haven't been working with it long enough to have internalized it yet, but again, the focus is on tightening up ideas. Are plot lines behaving as they're supposed to, plot devices doing their jobs, are characters interesting, does their behavior make sense? Then I go after timelines. How much time must pass between points A and B? Do events C and D line up the way they're supposed to? For somebody whose weakness is plot, it works great. Again, in the end the result is usually a lower word count, but it's rarely deliberate.

Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass
Available at Amazon.com / Amazon UK / Amazon CA 

Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass
Available at Amazon.com / Amazon UK / Amazon CA 

When I must be careful of word count, bad things can start to happen. One piece got it's backstory almost cut, with what I felt were dubious results. Yes the story was shorter, but it was the difference between skim and whole milk. In terms of flavor and substance, it just wasn't the same. Also, what appears on the surface to be a simple idea often ends up being more complex than I expected. I'm one of the less organized writers here, so my first drafts are usually explorations. I go back and sort everything out later. Most of the time, as I said, the result is a lower word count, but sometimes word count actually goes up, and sometimes significantly. It can be a real joy to double the length of a story, knowing that while it may no longer be suitable for the intended publication, it's going to be ever so much better.

The bottom line for me is to use however many words I need to tell the story, no more and no less.

From Amanda Earl
I have been doing substantive editing myself lately on stories that are about 500 words over required word counts for a few submissions.

Like you I start with word level edits, but then I look for things like details not necessary to the plot or side-plots. In some cases I've been known to chop out minor characters too. One editor recently asked me to eliminate a sub-plot which seemed unnecessary to her.

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