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FOUR WAYS TO CUT YOUR NOVEL’S DRAFT (AND MAKE YOUR STORY STRONGER)

By: Ali

Is your novel looking a little bloated? Do you have a sneaking feeling you’ve repeated yourself a few times? Are some of your scenes really just unnecessary padding between episodes of action?

Believe me, I’ve been there. I cut my novel Lycopolis from 135,000 words (Draft 5) to 85,000 words (Draft 6).

It made for a much stronger novel, and I’m hugely grateful to my editor Lorna Fergusson for her invaluable help in deciding what to cut.

Now, I’m hoping your novel won’t require quite such drastic pruning as mine. Chances are, though, that you’re going to have some cutting to do.

How can you tell if you need to do away with some of your hard-won words?

To read the rest of the post click here.

~*~

If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again: 

1. The Other Side of the Story: You're So Emotional: Describing Emotions http://ow.ly/qEZCo
2. How To Find RSS Feeds From Pinterest Users And Boards? | SociableBlog http://ow.ly/qF5Mf
3. Four Ways to Cut Your Novel’s Draft (and Make Your Story Stronger) — Aliventures http://ow.ly/qF5UE
4. Passion: How To Tap Into Yours Every Time You Write | Write to Done http://ow.ly/qF5Yi
5. Social Media for Authors: [Groan] Do I HAVE To? | Catherine, Caffeinated http://ow.ly/qF61G
6. 7 Scientifically-Backed Copywriting Tips | Copyblogger http://ow.ly/qF62N
7. Facebook Changes Like Buttons: This Week in Social Media | Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/qF64l
8. Etiquette with Professional Writers | The Passive Voice | http://ow.ly/qF6lH
9. CreateSpace’s New Distribution Options: Pros and Cons | Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors http://ow.ly/qF6ns
10. 3 Ways to Know When to End Your Chapters | WritersDigest.com http://ow.ly/qFsh1
11. Ten rules for writing fiction | Books | theguardian.com http://ow.ly/qFsk8
12. Linda Clare's Writer's Tips: Don't Let Your Story Stall! http://ow.ly/qFvuy
13. Jennifer Represents...: Nutshell Spoilers and the Rhetorical No-no. http://ow.ly/qFvJI
14. Why Writing Alternate History is Both Awesome and Soul Crushing | Corsets, Cutlasses, & Candlesticks http://ow.ly/qFvSe
15. Top Writing Tips for Self-Published Authors http://ow.ly/qFw2G
16. Creative Mind Mapping for Novelists | Live Write Thrive http://ow.ly/qFwbp
17. Three Ways to Use Dialogue to NAIL Great Characters | Ninie Hammon http://ow.ly/qFwnQ
18. Stop Facebook From Telling If You Read A Chat or Private Message http://ow.ly/qFwKb
19. Why, Why, Why? | Live Write Thrive http://ow.ly/qFwgK
20. Linda Clare's Writer's Tips: Five Fab Fiction Writing Tips http://ow.ly/qFvzg
21. One Question: Answer It Well And Your Characters Will Be Unforgettable | Ninie Hammon http://ow.ly/qFwrx 

Happy writing & running, Kathy