Comments on: Slay Your Bloated Word Count

By: Candace Coakley

Candace Coakley — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 16:23:23 +0000

Suzy, thank you for sharing these killer tips!

By: Connie

Connie — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 15:35:13 +0000

Thank you for the tips! It’s a major weakness for me and I need all the help I can get.

By: Gifford MacShane

Gifford MacShane — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 06:00:30 +0000

Great ideas, Suzy. It’s so refreshing to NOT hear someone say something other than “no adverbs”!

I’ve got another tip: I once slashed over 4,000 words from a 128K manuscript by using contractions instead of “he would”, “he did not”, etc. This works especially well in dialogue, where it can sound unnatural.

I also create a word cloud to spot my overused words, as they seem to change from story to story.

By: Liz

Liz — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 16:24:15 +0000

In reply to MINDY ALYSE WEISS. I have some bad habits with filler words from NaNoWriMo and trying to hit those word count goals too. But it’s so satisfying to tighten it all up in editing and see how much better it reads!

By: Suzy Vadori

Suzy Vadori — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 15:37:50 +0000

In reply to MINDY ALYSE WEISS. Yes, and these mechanical edits can take the pain out of that first revision draft.

By: Suzy Vadori

Suzy Vadori — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 15:36:53 +0000

In reply to ANGELA ACKERMAN. Yes, it’s more than just “style”. Tightening writing will make readers like your story more, even if they have no idea why. These trucks can trim thousands of words from word count without losing a writer’s amazing ideas

By: ANGELA ACKERMAN

ANGELA ACKERMAN — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 15:03:20 +0000

These things have such a huge impact, so thank you, Suzy! I know some writers resist tightening their writing, telling themselves that “this is just how I write, and it’s my style” but this sort of necessary work can take a story from good to great. 🙂

By: MINDY ALYSE WEISS

MINDY ALYSE WEISS — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 11:06:29 +0000

Thanks for all these great tips, Suzy! I tend to write extremely bloated first drafts during NaNoWriMo. My manuscripts need to go on a serious diet during the first round of revisions.