by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I find myself really struggling with the potential word count of the second draft of this novel. The first version of this novel opened rather abruptly and it came in at about 120,000 words. This version has a much softer, traditional opening and I have a projected 20,000 words before the opening I originally had.
Oh boy.
But, in my defense, I feel as though a more traditional opening really engages people more than simply opening with my heroine already in crisis. This new beginning gradually gets you into the universe I’ve constructed and does a great deal to help with character development and motivation.
I don’t know what I’m going to do when it comes to word count. My desire to stay at about 100,000 words is equal to my desire to flesh out the characters so you actually care about them enough to finish the fucking novel.
I think this is a frequent problem of first novel novelists like me. But, I’m still early enough in the process that I might be able to figure out a way to lop off enough words to get to the 100,000 word sweetspot. That might come through the beta reader process or it might come from the insight of a professional editor should I be able to figure out how to afford one.
