Hellooo, everybody! A while back, we talked about beefing up your word count if your manuscript is a
bit too short. And now we're flipping the script. I'm tackling ten tips for trimming your word count
if your story is way too long. Writers typically come in two forms, under writers and over writers.
Under writers create their first draft and the most bare bones form, the story doesn't have
any meat. Whereas over writers create way too much content, they have to delete words, sentences, and
sometimes even entire scenes. Sometimes writers, especially under writers, assume bigger is better.
That’s what she said. Unfortunately, that's not necessarily the case. Because the longer a book
is, the more expensive it is to publish, at least in physical form. All that paper costs money,
which means a hefty book may be a hard sell to traditional publishers. And if you're
self-publishing, a hefty book is going to require a higher price in order to cover production
costs. This is not to say you should write a short book under all circumstances, but your
readers shouldn't be slogging through sentences, paragraphs or chapters that have no benefit to the
overall plot. If over writing is your problem, I've got the solution. These ten tips pinpoint
the biggest problems over writers have, and how to overcome them so you can produce the cleanest,
clearest manuscript possible. Let's get into it.
(The sound of a pen scratching. LOGO.)
Today's topic is requested by one of my patrons over on Patreon,
Ren Keeling. Ren enjoyed my underwriters video so much, and want me to give the same attention
to over writers, and I am happy to do so. I'm a recovering over writer myself, and these tips
have saved my ass on more than one occasion. While you're here don't forget to subscribe
to my channel. I post new videos on Wednesdays, and if you wanna be alerted as SOON as I upload,
ring that bell. You totally wanna do just that because I have my very first nonfiction
writing craft book, Shut Up and Write the Book, coming out in a few months or so.
And I talk about under writers and over writers in that book. So definitely subscribe to my channel,
ring the bell, and be on the lookout for Shut Up and Write the Book. While we're talking about
books, The Savior's Champion and The Savior’s Sister are available in ebook, paperback,
hardback and audiobook. They're available at all major retailers. So if you wanna check out this
dark fantasy romance, it's an award winner, it was a number one bestseller on Amazon.
Definitely do so, it's linked below. Now I'm breaking down my ten tips for trimming
your word count to its most vital point. Number One (1): Filter words. A filter word is a word
that filters the action of the novel through the main character’s experience. And over writers are
notorious for using the shit out of them. See, feel, think, realize, hear—all of these are filter
words! Sometimes they're unavoidable, and you gotta use them, but more than half the time you
don't need ‘em. When over used filters distance the reader from the story, and ruin the immersion.
On top of adding a bunch of useless words to the story. Fortunately filter words are really
easy to delete. ‘She heard of birds chirping overhead’ could instead be written as ‘Birds
chirped overhead.’ ‘He felt mud caking his body’ could be written as ‘Mud caked his body.’ See how
easy it is? In one quick step you have eliminated a filter word, improved your stories immersion,
and trimmed down your word count. Number Two (2): Repetition. If your manuscript is surpassing
200,000 words, I can guarantee you are repeating the shit out of yourself. Back in my critiquing
days, I once read a section of someone’s way too long manuscript. And in a single chapter,
they reference the main character’s sea-green eyes SIX times! We get it, they’re green. I'm
not saying you should only mention a character’s eyes once, but six times in one chapter? It
doesn't create a better visual, it just annoys the reader, and comes across self-indulgent. Another
time I read a love confession was over a page long, which is really unnecessary because there's
only so many ways you can say I love you. Go through your manuscript and look for these
useless moments of repetition. I know you got ‘em. Delete the repeats that add no value to your story
and move on. Number Three (3): Filler. If you’re an over writer, you got filler in your story.
I'm sorry, but it’s true. Filler is defined as any chapter or scene that does not move your
plot forward in some way. For example, I once read a romance novel that had an entire chapter devoted
to the main character's workout routine. This did not pertain to any of the plots or subplots,
which means it's filler. That doesn't mean you can't mention the character's workout routine,
that's fine, but we don't need an entire scene or chapter devoted to her reps and heart rate. It's
totally unnecessary. “But Jennaaa, this scene isn't pointless. It's character development.”
What if I told you, your character is supposed to develop through the plot. If you're not sure if a
scene is filler, it's simple enough to figure out. Imagine the scene has been removed from
your manuscript entirely. Can the story still be told with ease, or have you completely fucked
up the trajectory of your plot? If your answer is the latter, the scene can stay. And if it's
the former, the scene’s gotta go. Number Four (4): Passive voice. ‘The wall was covered in pictures.’
versus ‘Pictures covered the wall. ‘He was chased by dogs’ versus ‘Dogs chased him.’
In both of these examples, the first sentence is passive voice, and the second one is active voice.
Passive voice is typically something you wanna avoid. It usually reads less clear than active
voice, plus it loads up your sentence with tons of extra words. In rare occasions, the passive
voice reads as better than active voice, or passive voice cannot be avoided. But again,
this is uncommon. Locate all the instances of passive voice in your manuscript. If it can be
changed to active voice, I guarantee you will cut down your word count. Number Five (5): The extras.
A lot of writers are addicted to teeny-tiny words that aren't necessary to their sentences. The most
common addictive extra is the word ‘that.’ I'm sure you can think of tons of situations where
‘that’ is necessary. Please don't think I am telling you to delete every appearance of ‘that’
in your book. It's just quite often ‘that’ sneaks into sentences when it's not needed. For example,
take the sentence ‘She wished that she could fly.’ Guess which word doesn't need to be there?
That. ‘She wished she could fly’ is grammatically correct. Stop throwing in words that don't belong.
Number Six (6): Pacing. Is your story reading at too slow of a pace? Chances are you've added
too many words that don't belong. To quicken the pace, utilize shorter sentences. That doesn't mean
all of your sentences need to be short, but a good chunk of them should be. Additionally
learn when to tell and when to show. We don't need unimportant details like transitions or time skips
shown to us. Instead, utilize tell and move on. But most importantly, stop painting every
teeny-tiny detail. Especially in fast paced scenes. Say you’re writing a fight scene,
we don't need every single maneuver explained to us. This will only bog down the pace, and make it
seem as though the fight scene is happenig in slow motion. Instead, describe the moves that matter,
the action that creates the biggest punch. ‘He grabbed the hilt of the sword with his right hand,
raising it forward and piercing the knight through the belly.’ Who fucking cares which hand he used,
or the direction of his sword? Get those extra descriptions outta here! ‘He grabbed
his sword and pierced the knight through the belly.’ It illustrates the same idea,
but at a more exciting pace, and with fewer words. Number Seven (7): Description. Setting the scene
is imperative for every scene you write, but you can do this without barfing up useless
descriptions. We don't need the square footage of your character's house, or the placement of every
piece of furniture. We don't need the blueprint of a castle, or the exact height of its walls.
These details do not create better visuals, they just confuse and overwhelm the reader.
Instead, utilize your five senses and describe a color, texture, and ambiance. Is the furniture
made of polished mahogany? Are the walls covered in pink floral wallpaper? These descriptions are
visual and transportive. Plus they don't overwhelm the reader and they don't bog your manuscript down
with useless words. Number Eight (8): Adverbs. The road to hell is not paved in adverbs, but adverbs
certainly won't get you into heaven. More often than not, adverbs describe actions and the reason
they're frowned upon is because actions usually describe themselves. You don't need to say that a
character ran quickly, because running is quick in itself. That's the entire point. Over writers tend
to abuse adverbs. So I encourage you to go through your manuscript, highlight every adverb, and ask
yourself ‘Is this necessary?’ If a character is speaking flirtatiously, you don't need the adverb,
because the dialogue itself should make the flirting clear. But if they’re smiling
flirtatiously, the adverb might be helpful, because there are a zillion different kinds
of smiles, and we don't know which one they're using. Now if a character walks flirtatiously,
maybe there's a better verb you can use here that would eliminate the adverb entirely. For example,
strut, swagger, or sashay. As you can see, there are some situations where an adverb is necessary,
but most of the time a good powerful verb will do the trick. This will improve your writing,
create clearer visuals, and trim your word count. Number Nine (9): Info dumping. This is for all the
Sanderson wannabes out there. If you're a fantasy or sci-fi writer and your manuscript is way too
long, I’m gonna wager you have some info dumps scattered about, especially in the first few
chapters. An info dump is exactly what it sounds like. It's a massive chunk of exposition that is
used to explain some facet of the world, or its history. Sometimes info dumps can't be avoided,
but they should be in limited supply, and you should make them as short as possible. If you've
surpassed a page, you need to shut the fuck up real quick. If you're not sure if your info dump
is necessary, ask yourself the same thing you did with filler. If you removed this section,
could your reader still follow your manuscript without issue or confusion? If the answer is yes,
delete the dump. Remember, you only need to explain the world or its history if it pertains
to the plot. If it doesn't, it's gott go. And last but not least, Number Ten (10): The roundabout,
aka, writing your sentences in the most roundabout manner. ‘She extended her arm so that she could
pick up her glass of wine.’ So many words to explain the simplest action. You don't
need that shit. First of all, we've got some unnecessary words in there. ‘So that she could’
you don't need that. ‘So she could’ is perfectly fine on its own. Similarly, ‘her glass of wine’
could instead be written as ‘her wine glass.’ Same message, fewer words. But even with those changes,
this sentence is way too roundabout. ‘She extended her arm so she could pick up her wine glass.’
Listen, if she's picking up her wine glass we can already assume she's extending her arm.
No one is picking up a wine glass like this. Hold on, oh, okay, we got it. We got it.
We got it, got the wine. Thus this sentence could be written as ‘She picked up her wine glass.’ Not
only is it shorter, it's a lot clearer because readers aren't slogging through unnecessary
words. You're getting to the point which creates a clearer visual, trims your word count, and allows
your reader to get to the content that matters. So that's all I got for you today. Thank you to Ren
for requesting today's topic. If you'd like the chance to have a video topic dedicated to you,
or if you want access to tons of other awards, check me out on Patreon. You get early access to
my videos, we have a monthly live stream, there is an exclusive writing group just for patrons,
you also get signed books. It's so much fun. I got it linked below. Don't forget to subscribe
to my channel. I post new videos on Wednesdays, and if you wanna be alerted as SOON as I upload,
ring that bell. The Savior's Champion and The Savior’s Sister are available in ebook, paperback,
hardback and audiobooks. So if you'd like yourself some award winning dark fantasy romance,
definitely check this series out. They're linked below. And be sure to follow me on social media.
I'm on Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook and BookBub. And of course you can tweet me @JennaMoreci! Bye!
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