Editing Is Your Friend
As an editor, I find many writers have either edited their work too much or too little.
The key is to edit well enough to create a great story, but not too much that your work no longer has heart.
A lot of novel authors believe the golden word limit is 100 000. This is not always the case. Many publishers, big and small, prefer the word limit to be around 90k or even under. One of my publishers is UK hardback publisher Robert Hale Ltd. Their word count is approx 73 000 words. Always check the publisher’s guidelines, if possible.
Now some writers will be horrified that their beloved opus is a massive 300k words, and they refuse to cut a single word from it, but honestly think of the bigger picture — money. Publishers are companies out to make money, some foster careers, too, but mainly it is money and it is silly to think otherwise. For them to make money they have to create marketable books that will sell. If your book is a massive tome, do you think that the average publisher is going spend an awful lot of time and money on something that will be priced above all the competition?
When writers are confronted by the prospect of cutting words, they panic and think it can’t be done without destroying plots and characters.
In actual fact, most writers will learn that there is a skill to trimming word count. Once that skill is learnt, they can apply it to other works, and also this will change the way they write future manuscripts. Sometimes, the act of cutting words from the manuscript is simply a case of re-writing the odd paragraph, of eliminating passive writing or over telling, deleting repeated or redundant words. Look for instances where you have explained the same thing more than once, but perhaps in different ways or by different character’s viewpoint.
There are many good websites built to aid writers in writing the best work they can. I have a list on my website of several such websites.http://www.annewhitfield.com/writingwebsites.html
In the end, write the story of your heart, but edit it with a business mind and the chances are you’ll have a better prospect of becoming published and the journey with your future editor may be also smoother.
Good Luck!
Anne Whitfield, author and editor.
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Comments: 13
Thanks for the link to your writing tips. I'm always looking for ways to improve. ;-)
Terri
Dark Obsession
My Website, if you're curious. ;-)
Good article Anne.
P.S. I love that you're Anne with an "e" :)
Please read and rate my entry:
A Scandalous Overture
Danielle, editing is hard work, and my opinion is that you need to know and learn the craft of writing to be a good editor. You need to know about passive vs active, point of view, show not tell, redundant words, useless dialogue tags, etc.
Then you need to 'feel in your heart' a good book against one that is only so-so. What do readers want? Good plots, great characters, accuracy, etc. There is so much involved, it can be daunting, but very worthwhile when you see one of the books you've edited do well.
Jerrica, like Anne Of Green Gables, Anne must always have an 'e'! :o)
Take care everyone.
But that's just me.
Badeaux Knights
Love to know what you think of my writing. Stop by if you are able to!
You should keep in mind that even editors have their own view of what a book needs or doesn't need to make the book better (in their eyes) and if you find an editor who shares your vision of the book then work with them, if not, don't. You should always remember, in the end, it's your name on the book so don't lose your story.
Terri (who's first potential editor left the house before we had a chance to work together.) =(
Dark Obsession
For anyone interested, the text of the Oz books is available free at manybooks.com Key words, 'Oz' and 'Evans'
I think I will have another go at it just the same and see what I can do better.
Finding Beatrice.