Word Count?

[BWFoster78]

ndmellen,

My guess is that a really good crit partner or a content editor would be able to give you plenty of suggestions on how to trim it down...

 

[PaulineMRoss]

My guess is that a really good crit partner or a content editor would be able to give you plenty of suggestions on how to trim it down...

My experience is that the trimming down is balanced by areas that need to be filled out. I took whole chapters out of mine and still ended up with exactly the same overall total.

 

[PaulineMRoss]

The final draft of my manuscript is massive, topping out at 240k. I know that this is far too long for a first time author, but I can't see how to make it smaller. [...] Should I even bother trying to go the traditional route, knowing that it is too big?

If you've set your heart on trad publishing, it's worth sending the first few chapters off to agents, just to see what they say, but publishers are constrained by economic realities. The alternative route to a trad publishing contract these days is to self-publish, build a following and wait for them to come to you. But I would say, unless you conform to the publishers' fairly rigid guidelines, or are prepared to hack your manuscript about to fit, self-publishing is probably going to be less grief.

My first is 220K, so I understand what it's like to start writing and find you have a massive tome on your hands. And no, often it's just not possible to cut it down, not without losing the essence of it. Some fantasy just works best when it sprawls epically across entire worlds, and readers enjoy immersing themselves in that kind of story.

 

[psychotick]

Hi ND,

There's nothing to stop you submitting to an agent etc, and if this is where your heart is I would say go with it. The book being too long is just an extra hurdle, but it's not insurmountable. I would do as Pauline suggests and send off a few chapters, don't mention the word count, or at most mention that it's a little oversized, and see if you can hook someone. It may be slightly unethical but it's still better than being rejected out of the box based on an arbitrary number. On the other hand, do not submit it to any agents / publishers who have a strict word limit. It'll just end up in bad feelings all around.

However I would not prune it. As a rule of thumb you can trim a ms maybe 5% without drastically affecting the book. But any more than that and you'll start altering either its readibility or the story itself. In point of fact whenever I've tried to trim a ms it's ended up larger than when it began as I continually find more things that need fleshing out.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[BWFoster78]

My experience is that the trimming down is balanced by areas that need to be filled out. I took whole chapters out of mine and still ended up with exactly the same overall total.

Pauline,

Not meaning to imply that it's not possible that an author could possibly have 200k+ of legitimate length as much as I was advocating that the poster in question seek feedback to make sure that it's the case in this particular instance.

For the record, I've noted much the same thing as you did. I deleted large swaths of text only to find that other scenes needed drastic fleshing out.

 

[Caged Maiden]

so I'm working on a novel right now that's already lean. it's been trimmed and will still come out as 135k words. Here's what I recently learned:

One, if it's your debut novel and you need the validation of passing the gate-keeper agents, seek one out that really represents similar books to yours. They are more likely to bite on it, get excited about it, and not worry if it's a little bigger than they originally wanted. The thing is, if you get an agent excited about your work and pull them in... they don't care whether it's 15k words heavier than they wanted. They want it anyways!

Two, if you didn't want to go through an agent, but instead were aiming for small press, it's likely to be a bigger problem. Small press publishers tend to have stricter rules, tight budgets, and less overall "play room" for word count.

Three, if you have no need to throw yourself upon the slush pile and have your book declared a victor, you can self-publish no matter the length. Down side is that for paper copies, you'll have to use a site like createspace to offer a print book, but it sounds like you want to see your work on a shelf in a store. So I think you're going the agent route. I am too. It's what I need to do for this first novel. IN fact, I sent a query a couple days ago and keep reminding myself a response is on its way in a week.

Okay, so I hope you have enough advice to rest assured at this point that the extra pages don't amount to a deal-breaker to an agent (who will seek out a bigger publisher). Best wishes!

 

[Jabrosky]

I second every comment saying that writers shouldn't worry themselves about word count until they have something finished.

Actually, I have been worrying a lot about story length lately, but not in the sense of traditional word counts. I've read more than once that beginning writers like me should start with short stories before tackling larger novels. That advice sounds sensible to me, but for some reason I'm having difficulty brainstorming ideas that can be condensed into short stories. It seems that every idea I generate either deserves a longer story or centers on a simple fight scene. Don't get me wrong, I like writing action/adventure stories with fight scenes, but I don't want my writing to turn formulaic.

 

[ndmellen]

Verum- This was incredibly helpful; thank you..