It’s normal for authors to sometimes end up with drafts that are too long. Now, there’s nothing wrong with chunky books — as long as the word count is justified — but a book that feels too long can be both difficult to pitch to publishers and daunting for potential readers to pick up, and can even be a sign of poor craftsmanship.
If you’re trying to edit your book down but don’t know where to start, here’s a list of seven things that often bloat manuscripts, and some effective remedies.
Structural level
The most efficient way to quickly reduce your word count is to address big picture issues. This allows you to chop off whole chunks of text at a time.
1. Setting and world-building
Lengthy exposition, descriptions, and info dumps should immediately raise red flags when you’re editing. Usually, you’ll find this in the first couple of chapters, and though some genres might require more world-building than others, authors generally tend to over-explain things in the initial set-up.
Remedy: Instead of writing hand-holding descriptions, trust readers to read between the lines and fill in any gaps. If the setting in a scene is a small town, it’s enough to describe a few evocative details about it rather than every single house and person who lives there.
2. Characters
I once heard someone say that “no one peoples their pages quite like Tolstoy,” and that might be true, but Tolstoy also wrote tomes like War and Peace. Cutting or combining unnecessary side characters saves space as it streamlines introductions, descriptions, interactions, dialogues, or even whole scenes.
Remedy: As you go through your manuscript, ask yourself whether all of the characters contribute to the main plot or theme of the story, or whether they’re simply there to “people your pages”. If it’s the latter, let them go.
3. Scenes
On a similar note, you can remove whole scenes if they don’t contribute directly to the story. This often reduces your book by several pages, while also creating a tighter story.
Remedy: While killing your darlings can be hard, it’s important to commit. If the scene is absolutely vital, keep it. But if you just like the way you phrased things, it might be best to cut it entirely. Readers are unlikely to miss what was never there, but they’ll notice if something is extraneous.
4. Unnecessary showing
Contradicting the old ‘show-don’t-tell’ rule, showing often requires more words than telling, as you’re trying to paint a picture rather than state a fact. While there should be a balance between the two, sometimes it’s necessary to stay concise and let readers know what to focus on.
Remedy: Telling can help replace unnecessary scenes and exposition, so occasionally forgo showing in order to quickly deliver information and move on to more important scenes.
Sentence-by-sentence level
If you’ve done the editing jobs listed above and still feel like your word count is too high, you can also start trimming things on a sentence-by-sentence level. Just make sure you don’t cut away your own voice.
5. Long sentences
Common causes of bloated prose include the passive voice, overly descriptive, or adjective-heavy language.
Remedy: Consider what the essential information is, and focus on conveying that. Compare:
“The gentle October breeze filled the air with orange and red maple leaves slowly drifting to the ground as she walked across campus.”
With:
“Maple leaves fell to the ground as she walked across campus.”
6. Filter words
Filter words add another layer between the reader and a character’s experience, often making sentences longer.
Remedy: Instead of saying “Emily saw Jessica throw the ball,” you can say “Jessica threw the ball.”
7. Dialogue tags
Lastly, dialogue tags are words that explain and put dialogue into context.
Remedy: Remove unnecessary tags like “he said/she said”, “she grumbled”, or “he shouted” when it’s obvious who spoke or what the mood is.
Ultimately, reducing your word count is all about removing everything that doesn’t serve a direct purpose, on a micro and macro scale. But sometimes the problem isn’t knowing where to look or what to remove, but being willing to ruthlessly edit your own work. Easier said than done. Hopefully, these tips have given you an idea of where to start.
© Linnea Gradin
Linnea Gradin is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that helps authors with everything from how to publish their books to how to translate a book by connecting them with the world’s best publishing professionals.
