I’m nearing the end of the first very rough draft of my (first) non-fiction book - epistolary, narrative, social history. And it’s huge - I was dreading the task of having to cull it, but this article has given me some tools - as well as renewed enthusiasm - to think I can do it. So thank you
Nothing has helped my writing more than falling down the flash rabbithole! It has forced me (alongside varying amounts of kicking and screaming) to interrogate every. single. word. on the page and accept that no matter how beautiful, how breathtaking, they have to earn their place.
I believe in you! My advice for you is don’t rush the ending because you feel that word count running too high, it’s tempting but it will make your pace uneven. Make peace with writing it too long and cut cut cut afterwards
It started out as a 1k flash and grew from there. I’m on the second draft now, and decided after the first draft that it would be as long as it needs to be to tell the story. I’m still deep-diving into emotions, motivations and tension - cutting will start with the third draft and beyond. And I wrote the ending very early on.
That's also really helpful for short stories and even for flash fiction. Thank you!
I’m nearing the end of the first very rough draft of my (first) non-fiction book - epistolary, narrative, social history. And it’s huge - I was dreading the task of having to cull it, but this article has given me some tools - as well as renewed enthusiasm - to think I can do it. So thank you
Glad it was helpful - I think you can do it too!
Ouch! And what a great question, which makes the ouch so much easier.
Nothing has helped my writing more than falling down the flash rabbithole! It has forced me (alongside varying amounts of kicking and screaming) to interrogate every. single. word. on the page and accept that no matter how beautiful, how breathtaking, they have to earn their place.
This is such a useful article. My WIP is currently around the 100k mark and heading towards 140k. These suggestions make cutting back seem manageable.
I believe in you! My advice for you is don’t rush the ending because you feel that word count running too high, it’s tempting but it will make your pace uneven. Make peace with writing it too long and cut cut cut afterwards
It started out as a 1k flash and grew from there. I’m on the second draft now, and decided after the first draft that it would be as long as it needs to be to tell the story. I’m still deep-diving into emotions, motivations and tension - cutting will start with the third draft and beyond. And I wrote the ending very early on.