The Story of a Story

Today I want to tell you a story:

Once upon a time I wrote a book. It was not my first book, but I loved it like it was. People critiqued it, and I made changes. More people critiqued it, and I made more changes. People started telling my good things about my book. This made me happy.

So I worked on my query letter. People critiqued it, and I made changes. More people critiqued it, and I made more changes. And people told me happy things about my query letter. This made me happy, too.

And I wanted to query.

But one thing bothered me. . . .

. . . the page count.

My book was long. This did not make me happy.

So I started cutting. Little things at first:

• "he said." 
• "she said." 
• "he turned and walked." 
• "lightly" 
• "stupidly" 
• "blindly" 
• "quickly" 
• . . . blah, blah, blah . . . you get the idea. 

But it wasn't enough.
So I cut more. Bigger things this time:

• "this passage is so funny! but it doesn't move the plot forward." 
• "this passage tells us so much about this character! but it's already shown in other ways." 
• "this information is so interesting! but it's all backstory in one big chunk."
• . . . blah, blah, blah . . . you get the idea. 

But it still wasn't enough. (Yeah, it was LONG.)
So I cut more. Even bigger things this time:

• "I really like how this plot line twists right there! but it's a bit long winded, and what if someone asks this question . . . you know, the one that makes all the logic of getting there crumble?"
• "what I said before but for a different part of the story."
• "I really like what happens here! but a similar thing happens in this other part."
• . . . blah, blah, blah . . . you get the idea. 

And while this story isn't finished yet, I will tell you this: My beta re-readers between each cut session couldn't tell what I'd cut. None of it was missed. None. And while they did notice the plot changes I'd made . . . they thought it was better.

So if you, too, are struggling with the the dreaded thing called word count, are you sure you've cut all you can?