Editing for Length
A nonfiction book writer at a brunch yesterday complained the university publisher insists on reducing the book's size. Physical size? No. Word count? No, page count. "Well, that means cutting out words," I said, "and it's best done in large swaths."The soon-to-be author looked at me bleakly. "I'm editing it myself, and we agreed to eliminate one whole background section on .... Now it's down to finding words to take out."
"How much reduction are you required to make?" I asked, worried for this writer. Almost one third of the material has to go. "You're never going to make it by taking out a word here and there. Whole paragraphs, maybe chapters must go." (This presumes a well-organized manuscript.)
"Let's keep in touch," the author said with enthusiasm. "I may need your help this summer. The book must be finished this season." An experienced writer recognized the fact that we fall in love with our words, so deeply that we cannot gain enough perspective to see which ones can go and which must stay. It's akin to snow blindness--a flurry of words, each one exquisitely unique and valuable.
Labels: books, editing, words, writing
posted by Georganna Hancock M.S. | 6:02 AM
3 Comments:
You're so right, Georganna, that writers have a hard time cutting our own words. One my clients was convinced his book had to 160,000 words - there was simply nothing that could be cut. After I cut it down to 110,000 words, he couldn't even tell what had been removed.
Editing is a painful, but necessary, process.
When I wrote my book, I kept certain much-loved sections until the very last moment. I relished the flow of the words and sentences--even though my critique group had raised questions about them.
I finally caved and removed (most of them) right before I sent my manuscript to the publisher.
Painful--but the right thing to do.
Thanks for the comments, ladies. You're both so spot-on, as our British sisters would say.
Some people think that cutting is an art almost as much as writing is. I find it easy to eliminate, although sometimes my writing gets too sparse.
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