Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The Dreaded Word Count

Here I am, ready to send my story - or so I thought. Yes, you can call me naive, new, or nitwit, but I am 100,000 words over where I need to be for the market. I must condense a 210,000 word novel to about 115,000 or 125,000. So, I have begun the painful process of seeing what I can and can't get rid of. It's really like cutting off your fingers. Or an arm. Both legs. Painful.

I know that sending it now will only send it straight to the rejection pile, so in order to give my writing a fighting chance I will edit. Again.

You see, a double spaced manuscript in courier 12 point is around 250 words per paper. I had around 840 pages...I need 440-500... That's half my book!!! Then you multiply the page number by 250 and get your word count - it's only an estimation really. Mine is the size of two books. And no, that doesn't mean I can cut it in half and be done with it. I just have to step back and really look at what I need in my first book. Some things could always wait for the second. Right?

I tell myself it will be worth it.

I really want it to be.

But the book is my child and the pages are limbs and - you get the idea.

Anyway, I have the agents picked, the query letter ready....the word count will be fixed. Soon. That's all that's holding me back. Really. *sigh*

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good post.