Say what?

I saw this post on Pinterest –

IMG_1275
– and cracked up laughing.

How to lengthen your novel? I need, ‘how to cut 25 thousand words out’!

Tell me, are you and overwriter, and underwriter or just write (see, what I did there?)

52 thoughts on “Say what?”

      1. The Drabble just posted one of my pieces. I was half tempted to make sure the defibrillator was on hand before I told him about being accepted for a small word count. 😉

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  2. I definitely tend to write longer, though I’ve been brought up short before.
    Personally I’m a little wary of trying to stretch out a story beyond it’s natural length. Granted it’s not hard to invent now obstacles along the way, or decide that “this” was only the first step, but my first instinct would probably be to dig around in my ideas list and see what else I could write.

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    1. I remember writing essays for university and my friends would all lament “oh no, a 1500 word limit, how am I going to get 1500 words!” Then there’s me over here going “oh no, a 1500 word limit, how am I going to cut 3000 words to get to 1500!” 😏

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      1. Indeed. In high school they had us write a “story” based on a prompt as a “typing as writing” exercise. 20 minutes in and everyone else had moved on to other exercises. I still wasn’t done. Sadly I got a poor grade because of grammar, but I was too busy trying to get the words down before they faded.

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  3. I think J. K. Rowling’s novels (at least HP 4-7) could have stood to be considerably shorter, quite frankly…

    I think I tend to err on the side of short. My novels always get considerably longer after revisions. (I just checked the length of the MS that my editor and I are just about to finish editing. It’s 92K words. The first draft was 63K, and the version I originally submitted to them was 87K. o.O )

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  4. I usually get overlong when writing short fiction (which is my main field of play) and get caught short on novel-length works.
    But that’s what revisions are for, right? Get to the correct word-count.

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      1. It’s not being a rebel.
        I am very disciplined when writing scenes (5/600 words), but have a problem with standard lengths.
        This often means I have to cut stories before submission, which is not good.

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  6. I overwrite too, Jess. And have to go back and cut. Outlining has helped a lot to keep my stories tight by eliminating tangents (inspired by those characters who can’t stick to the script). My first book was pantsered and my characters had a great time galavanting all over the place. I had to cut over 60,000 words before I found a publisher! Never again!

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  10. Haha, that cracked me up too because I also over-write! I write a lot the first draft, only to trim them down in the subsequent edits. But I feel sad about deleting my hard work, so I chunk them into a separate file where they’d leave forever! But hey, on the bright side, I never need to employ dirty tricks to get my NaNoWriMo word count. 😆

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      1. Definitely a dirty trick. 😆
        Back in school, I never did have enough paper for all my writing tests, be it English or science; others stared as I asked the facilitator for more paper. 😆

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      1. Wow, lol, I’m blushing. 🙂 We all learn from each other. I remember when I began my self publishing journey and the pioneers I followed to learn the ropes, and many became friends. Community is a beautiful thing. ❤

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  12. I tend to underwrite. My first and only novel is barely a book, more like a novella. I wanted something that was a quick read with great characters and an interesting story. Not sure how close I got to my goal! Also, I tend to go overboard on descriptions. I’m trying to cut back on that while adding more interest to the characters. My sister suggested I put my novellas together in a book. It’s a good idea and I’m still mulling that over.

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