#WritingWonders: Day 8 - Are you an under writer or over writer?

#1stdraft: (Consider reading the following paragraph dramatically out loud.)

There is a lot to consider when you apply such a label. I know my biggest sins are lack of concision and ellipsis. (Too many words about the same thing and not letting sentences imply a bigger picture with fewer words.) My next sin, which may be a symptom of the first, is my use of hedge hogs to soften meanings that ought be forceful, filling up space, and weasel words to prevent committing completely to an event or assertion, e.g., almost and try to. I do let my characters drive the story, and I write whatever they may blather about, ensuring I understand them well in the expectation I'll prune it out later. Never stop the flow of a story by prematurely editing. I also tend to write the way I speak, adding details and punctuation to allow it to be read aloud, which ends with creating some extraordinarily long sentences that may or may not be necessary—even though they sound good and stylish in dramatic readings. The manuscript for The Girl from the Emeraline Island weighed in at 195,000 words. Between the editors and I, I cut it down to 95,000 by doing the above, and removing subplots.

#revision: I over write.

I revise a lot.

I consider every word and sentence, asking, "Is this necessary? If I cut it, will I miss it? Will I lose something needed later?" I search for my hedge hogs and and weasel words and remove them. Last, I ask if extra characters add anything, or if I need subplots. The result is always a much tighter story.

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