: Re: I am losing significant word count in the second draft of my novel. How might I use that space to deepen the characters and story? I have a word count goal for my fantasy novel (climate

@Moriarity138

Vote Up Vote Down

First, 90K is a very respectable word length for a novel, so make sure you're not just trying to meet an artificial goal when your book is already complete. Personally, I much prefer books lean, and with no extra fat on them.

Second, it's hard to give generic advice without knowing where exactly your book might be weak. Your characters might be thinly drawn, or lack backstories, or internal lives, or be unsympathetic, or your descriptions might be weak or your plot might benefit from a subplot, but it's impossible for us to know which (if any) is true. So my advice would be to not start from "I need words, what good ones can I put in" but rather "what is my book lacking?" If your intervention isn't filling in a specific gap in your story, it's likely to feel grafted on and superfluous.

As a push in the right direction, mainly we as writers err by not putting on the page those things in our heads that help us see vividly and understand the characters and their world. Remember, if it isn't on the page, in some fashion, it doesn't exist for the reader.

(0)

Login to post a comment!