Before setting out to reduce word count, first think about what perspective or narrative style you are writing from. By understanding your chosen perspective or style of narration, you can whittle away unnecessary scenes or chapters which don’t add anything new or advance the arc that your story arc requires.
Every character with an opinion plays an integral part in your plot (or character arcs you’re creating). If you find yourself writing scenes from secondary or even third person perspectives or including thoughts that shouldn’t belong to our protagonist, simple adjustments might be in order.
Do You Need Excess Backstory?
If your reader must read your prologue in order to grasp the story, rewriting may be in order. If they think “they just need to keep reading; it gets better”, use that logic against yourself: get their interest right at chapter one rather than five chapters down or three chapters away!
Search your writing to identify those scenes written to understand how your character(s) fit into the narrative. Read through any narrative that explores their past or provides insight into their behavior or thoughts.
Does each element appear plausible to readers without your narration? Would the story change if these components were absent altogether? Finally, is there an easier way to convey this while strengthening its image now that you understand its requirements?
Utilize early draft uncertainties as an asset and address them first. Writing doesn’t need to be perfect the first time through.
Consider why your scenes or chapters are lengthy
These scenes can often prove challenging as they play an integral part of your story’s progression. Your hero shouldn’t win too quickly or experience too many setbacks too quickly. Furthermore, logic shouldn’t come too early or too quickly into play for him to comprehend everything on offer.
Imagine your scenes as movie scenes. Ask someone else to read your scene out loud, and see if they found it engaging or not, along with how long they thought it lasted.
Consider what would happen without it and judge its importance to the overall story. More complex or important scenes should receive greater consideration, while published scenes can serve as guides as to which genre you may be writing in. Remember that its impactful placement within the narrative cannot be overlooked!
If your narrative style allows, you should do the same.
Do you have any “meanwhile…” chapters?
Cut chapters that only exist to pass the time without regretting it. This applies especially for objective or omniscient narratives where cutting chapters is commonplace.
Why would you include a chapter about something that happened while your protagonist was engaged in another activity? What would be lost without it? Does it serve a purpose for readers, such as increasing tension or showing the “real life” aspects?
Once you understand why you have it, it will be up to you to decide whether or not keeping that chapter is worthwhile.
Condense Your Sentences
When writing in the present tense, look for forms such as past progressive or progressive forms to shorten sentences and enhance readability.
The grass was swaying in the Easter breeze.
Not all past progressives require revision, however. Consider carefully the intention and meaning behind each word you write as altering a sentence’s construction can alter reader interpretation of its contents.
Details Are Everything
Shorten sentences when necessary or to identify habits and tendencies, particularly if your writing tends to become wordy. Here are a few key things to look out for when shortening sentences:
Passive Voice: Passive voice differs from past progressive by using sentences where someone acts upon a target (i.e. “I was waiting for him to call”). For instance, your crush washed his car as an example. To reduce passive voice use sentences in which an action takes place on this target or where subject becomes object (see above example) with passive voice becoming active if someone becomes subject (instance above). You can often reverse them: “Your crush washed his car.
Adjectives: Eliminate words like “very pretty” to reduce the word counter, though you could also explain what “pretty” means. When an adjectival description takes up more than one word, consider whether it can be removed altogether. What stronger term would better fit with your narrative voice? Do not simply delete every adjective out there; use your judgment and read both with and without each adjective to see which works better with your narrative voice.
Useless Words: As this decision is subjective, use your best judgement when eliminating unnecessary words such as “that”, “very”, “the”, and “just”. Such overused terms often can be cut, especially if they do not significantly add anything new or improve upon an already existing sentence.
Condense Dialogue: Dialogue tags don’t always need to include intricate detail. If the speaker’s identity is implied, delete or condense elaborate dialogue tags such as ‘Bite Your Tongue! She Screamed with Authority!’. Use verbs that best express what your message is instead of ones with fancy words.
Do not become bogged down in trivial details; however, if word count is an issue then several hundred words should suffice.
