Art of Cutting

Betty Kreier-Lubinski

The Art of Cutting Out Your Heart

"There!" Keena said. "I'm done, and it's perfect, as good as I can possibly make it." Then she counted the words?and discovered the manuscript was 200 words longer than the editor required. "I can't cut it," she wailed. "It's rock bottom now. I'll ruin the story if I take out one more word." Cutting anything would be like chopping out her heart, inch by inch. Impossible! Can't be done!

Oh, yeah!

When faced with a word length requirement, it doesn't do any good to moan and groan and say you can't cut it down. Editors are always right. If they say they want 2000 words, they mean 2,000 words. You want the editor to read your manuscript? You follow their rules. You may have a little more leeway with a novel, but there are still word length ranges you have to meet if you want to be published. That isn't quite as arbitrary as it sounds. For instance, magazine layouts are complex; editors know how much space they've allocated to a particular item, and your story has to fit together with all the other stuff. If it doesn't fit, they can't buy it. Simple!

So?quit whining and get started. Here's how!

Compare the following:

He is a very bad, bad boy.
He is a very bad boy.
He is a bad boy.
He is bad.

The last one is stark, strongest, and the most effective. It also uses the fewest words. Keep that example in mind as you look for words to cut from your manuscript.

Go through and examine EACH WORD in your story. Be sure it's essential to the meaning. If you can leave it out without demolishing the story, leave it out. Examine the "the's." You can even eliminate one of those sometimes.

Pay particular attention to descriptive words. Do they move the story along? Does the reader really need to know that the antique vase was a deep Chinese red, was brought from the Chinese mainland by the narrator's great uncle on her deceased father's side and was presently sitting on an old wooden hand-carved antique chest before it was suddenly knocked off and broken on the plush burgundy carpeted floor--or could you just say the vase shattered as it fell to the floor? You decide. Is a detailed description essential to the plot, or just padding?

Be ruthless in eliminating words which don't carry their own weight. A number of commonly used words and phrases do not contribute anything to the story. Examples: however, by the way, often, in fact, very, usually, at this point, only, just, really, actually?and a whole lot more. Novice writers may use these words for emphasis, but they can serve as a distraction.

If you are desperate and still have too many words, go through the manuscript and check to see if you can use any contractions. Can "it is" be written as "it's" or "there is" as "there's?" Contractions are fine, especially in dialogue. Also, incomplete sentences are okay in dialogue. Eavesdrop on someone else's conversation, and note how many times they don't talk in complete sentences.

Now you're down to bare bones. Do a word count and if you have some words to spare, start adding back only the words that are MOST effective?-one word at a time. You'll discover there are never as many absolutely essential words as you first thought. The pared down draft often moves the action along faster and carries more punch than the longer first version.

Be sure to save the original version, though. It's like saving the finger chopped off in an accident so the doctor can sew it back on. If you don't like the effect of cutting something out, you can always sew it back in.

Keep both versions in different lengths. You may want to use the same story later in a longer version.

Set up a "scraps and pieces" file, and save particularly wonderful sections which don't move this story along. It's less heart-wrenching to cut your priceless words if you don't throw them away, and you'll be amazed to find you can use some of your wonderful prose in another story--or maybe as the catalyst for writing a whole new story.

Be assured, it gets easier with practice! Good luck!