Agonizing over word count

[msstice]

(This is mostly me thinking aloud, but you are my writing buddies, so this is where I think aloud)

I fear my novel may be getting too long. It's SF and my 1.5 draft is at 118K now and I suspect I'll windup with 140K. I think I can pare this down with revision, but I suspect I'll not go below 120k. I'm hoping to be traditionally published and my reading of articles on the internet suggest a no-name first time author like me isn't doing themselves any favors with this length. It should rather be near 90k. For those who are old hands at this, would you worry about this now, or just see how it all comes out naturally and then see what to do about it? I don't think I have an issue of the muddled middle. It's all quite fast paced and, in my mind, each bit adds something to the story.

I'm sure I can edit it down, but how low do you think I can go from 140K? Thanks!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

What genre of sff is it?

 

[HareBrain]

I'm sure I can edit it down, but how low do you think I can go from 140K? Thanks!

I got my first published novel down from 190 to 155 in one editing pass, and I thought it was fairly tight to start with. I think I ditched one scene; otherwise it was just looking for ways of condensing lines or dialogue exchanges. I then had to put it back up to almost 160 because I'd overtightened quite a few lines and they no longer flowed smoothly.

My second one, I expected to do the same, but it only went from (I think) 210 to 205. Either it was more tightly written to start with (it did have more plot than the first) or I wasn't putting the same pressure on myself to be ruthless because the publisher was already on board.

So, it's very hard to tell you how low you can go. You can probably hit almost any target if you really need to. But 120 should be doable with some focused effort, and I think that should be short enough for the fantasy market even for a debut.

 

[msstice]

What genre of sff is it?

You probably got me there. I emphasize character and plot over bare scientific description. Space Opera without space battles, and hard SFF without the thesis chapters?*. An adventure of discovery and exploration perhaps.

*Seeing that written down, it sounds like I've left out the best bits of each genre.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

You probably got me there. I emphasize character and plot over bare scientific description. Space Opera without space battles, and hard SFF without the thesis chapters?*. An adventure of discovery and exploration perhaps.

*Seeing that written down, it sounds like I've left out the best bits of each genre.

Ha! For space opera you can go higher than 90000- around 120000 won’t raise eyebrows. Choose SO!

 

[Brian G Turner]

I'm sure I can edit it down, but how low do you think I can go from 140K? Thanks!

Once you get an editor it's easy to cut the word count. Just have to try not to cry when you first do it.

 

[Susan Boulton]

While you are writing don't agonise over the word count. Get your story down. Leave it for a while then re read it and start to edit. You will soon see where you waffle. You can pay for an editor, or have a fellow writer read it and tell you when you are going round in circles so to speak. I cut a 200,000 word novel down to 125,000 and got it published.

 

[The Big Peat]

I might worry if I was, oh I dunno, 60k words in and thinking this will be 200k words rather than 120k.

But whether it'll be 140k at 118k? Just get it finished at this point and then work things out from there.

I'd also add that snipping 20k words from a story without altering a scene is usually startlingly easy (until it it ceases to startle and then just becomes easy).

 

[CamRoze]

(This is mostly me thinking aloud, but you are my writing buddies, so this is where I think aloud)

I fear my novel may be getting too long. It's SF and my 1.5 draft is at 118K now and I suspect I'll windup with 140K. I think I can pare this down with revision, but I suspect I'll not go below 120k. I'm hoping to be traditionally published and my reading of articles on the internet suggest a no-name first time author like me isn't doing themselves any favors with this length. It should rather be near 90k. For those who are old hands at this, would you worry about this now, or just see how it all comes out naturally and then see what to do about it? I don't think I have an issue of the muddled middle. It's all quite fast paced and, in my mind, each bit adds something to the story.

I'm sure I can edit it down, but how low do you think I can go from 140K? Thanks!

I wouldn't worry too much about.word count. Some exceed 200k words and they hold in their own respective forms.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I'd also add that snipping 20k words from a story without altering a scene is usually startlingly easy (until it it ceases to startle and then just becomes easy).

I agree. The first time an editor asked me to do this I thought it would be impossible. That particular publisher was parsimonious with paper and ink in those days, so I sort of resented that the request had to do with some arbitrary word count, rather than because, for instance, they thought it would improve the pacing of the book. But when I set my mind to do it, when I was done I found I had actually cut more words than they had requested and it was neither painful nor had the book really lost anything. (And it may, in fact, have improved the pace, even if that wasn't the goal.)

 

[NurAL]

My first novel was over 140k and the first editor who actually gave a personal reply suggested I cut it to under 100k. I'm rewriting it now and hope to manage under 90k. The thing is, if you pitch it as an adult fantasy, you can probably get away with just under 100k, but a YA fantasy should be less than 80k. They might require you to add more later, but those are the safe bets for debut querying.