WRITING SPOTLIGHT- WORD BUDGET
I knew that I’d turned a corner in my journey as an author the moment I began researching word counts as it relates to genre. I’d never once in my life pondered how many words my favorite fantasy, horror, or science fiction books contained. I hadn’t considered how many words I may need to target in my own story. I simply set out to write a great story.
But the more I read about agents, and presses, and queries, the more I began to realize I needed to consider word count in relation to the type of story I was writing.
I found numerous instances of agents tweeting some variation of “Know your word count requirements!” One even went so far as to say she’d been pitched a fantastic sounding sci-fi novel, but because it only clocked in at 71,000 words (the minimum target evidently being 75k), she HAD to reject it.
I was petrified, and not just because I hadn’t planned for something like counting my words. I was petrified because I wasn’t even one hundred percent sure I knew what genre my book actually belonged too.
My saving grace was the fact I’d already written about 30k words at that point and seeing as this was the furthest I’d ever gotten towards completing a novel, I pushed forward, word count be damned.
Or so I thought. Subconsciously, and sometimes intentionally, I kept checking my word count. That Tweet really stuck with me. By the time I’d committed to myself that I was, in fact, writing a science fiction novel, the number 76k became my lighthouse, guiding me towards safety.
If I made it to 76k, then at least I’d have hit the bare minimum for my genre. And believe you me, I made it. Actually, I made it to 77,012.
But here’s the thing. Getting there, and staying there, are two very different things. My first round of edits cut over a thousand words from the manuscript, and my first true revision brought me down to the precipice of doom, with barely over 75.5k words total.
It was at some point after my second full revision, when the word count had clawed its way back up to nearly 78k, that I finally got a ‘professional’ editor involved. And it was this editor that finally introduced me to the concept of a WORD BUDGET.
The concept is simple. You only have so many words to work with, based on your goal/target word count. Shouldn’t the priority be making these words count? If each and every word is important and needed, then the quality of the work will be that much higher, regardless of the final number.
It made a shocking difference.
When I did my third, fourth, and eventually fifth and final revision, I didn’t bother looking at the number at the bottom of the screen. Instead, I looked at what was on the page, what words were being used, and whether or not they carried the appropriate impact to earn a spot on said page.
In doing so, my novel not only got better, it actually got longer, clocking in with a final of slightly over 81k words. I can hear some of you asking “How?” Well, to be honest, because I started focusing on the story being told, and not the number of words I was using, I began to refine and improve the overall story. New ideas were added that made the story better. Cutting a character meant there was space for that secondary character I really liked, thus expanding their time with the reader.
It might sound counterintuitive, but trust me, it worked in a big way.
Now, the question I’m sure some of you are asking is, “What words did you find to be unnecessary?” In short, a lot of them. You may already have a pretty good idea of the usual suspects— was/just/that/had and many others. These should absolutely be your first targets. But there are less obvious choices.
Take this paragraph:
“It didn’t exactly make up for missing her day at the lake, but the drive out to Fitchburg made for some lovely Saturday driving. She kept the windows down much of the time, even stopping at a roadside Farmer’s Market to buy some apricot jam.”
As it stands, this paragraph is 45 (or so) words. But what if it were written this way.
“It didn’t make up for missing her day at the lake, but the trip to Fitchburg made for some lovely Saturday driving. She kept the windows down and even stopped at a roadside Farmer’s Market to buy some apricot jam.”
We just related the exact same information but did so in 40 (or so) words, a savings of 5 words from a single paragraph. Extrapolate this out over a 70/80/100k novel, and you’ve provided yourself many more opportunities to tell MORE of your story. Or you might cut that 150k epic down to a slightly more palatable number (at least for first time authors seeking rep).
To recap; don’t get hung up on the numbers but do look a bit deeper when revising or editing your manuscript. You might be surprised what makes the cut.