I’m
an over-writer (is that a term? It is now). My MS is too long (91K) and on this
editing pass I’m cutting words—a lot of
words. My goal is to cut 10K from my story. So out comes the red pen and a plan.
If
I cut 25 words per page, by the time I get to the end it will have cut 10K. Now 25
words per page seems easy to me and it won’t really change my story. It will
just make it tighter.
Let
me give you a real life example. I edited this just last night. So straight
from my MS, this is section is 80 words…
Once
inside, Breck slumped into one of the kitchen chairs. He started to bring his
half empty bottle to his lips and Taggert snatched it away. Breck didn’t notice
until his hand met his face.
“I
think you’ve drunk enough,” Taggert said. “We’ll put this over here, for
later.”
“You
take such good care of me,” Breck said, smiling. “He…he…saved my life you
know,” he said slurring toward Jocelyn. His head hit the table top and he was
out—asleep.
Now
the edit :)
Once
inside, Breck slumped into one of the
kitchen chairs. He started to bring brought thehis half empty bottle to his lips and
Taggert snatched it away. Breck didn’t notice until his hand met his face.
“I
think you’ve drunk enough,” Taggert said. “We’ll save put this over here, for
later.”
“You
take such good care of me,” Breck slurredsaid, smiling. “Tag…Tag…saved my life you know.,” he said slurring toward Jocelyn. out—asleep.
Right
there I just cut 13 words and didn’t
really change the intent of my paragraph, 12
more and I’ve hit my goal. I think it makes everything a little tighter.
I
guess my advice for today is—If you need to cut a large amount of words take it
slow and take it page by page.
Do
you have any tips for cutting words?
-Angie
