Fiction Notes

Tag: cut

  • Compress Novel

    4 Ways to Slim Down Your Novel After reading over the first section of the novel that I’ve just revised, I realize that I want to cut some of it. It’s not bad the way it is, but cutting 10-20% will help.

  • Re-Envision

    10 Ways to Start the Process of Re-Envisioning How do you start revisions? You’ve got a great draft, and it’s pretty settled in your mind that this is how the story happens. BUT, readers aren’t thrilled with it. Editors and agents pass it by with a nice personal letter. Great, you think. There’s something here,…

  • Joni Sensel

    Guest blogger, Joni Sensel writes about cutting her story so much that two books became one. I read an ARC of this new book and loved it — the novel revisions worked! Why Cut Out Important Parts of a Novel? Originally I thought my new middle-grade adventure, THE FARWALKER’S QUEST, would be two books of…

  • Revise the Picture Book Text

    You’ve made some major changes in your text, but it’s time for micro-changes. Examples of microcuts and microchanges Micro-cuts Once you’re happy with your text, go back and edit out another 100 words. Again, it’s an arbitrary number, but it works so well. Think of this as a poem, which is the tightest writing possible.…