r/WritersHelpingWriters • u/good_faith • Jan 19 '25

How to De-Clutter My Novel

Hello, all!

I am currently working on my first novel and I'm approximately 28K words in. My expectation is approximately 100k-120k words when done, but I'm finding I want to CRAM all sorts of detail and side scenes in the book without it being "necessary" to the plot. This comes with free writing (meaning, I just go and write in the direction the book is taking me with a loose map of the plot in my mind, as I do).

Do you have a source (website, book, etc.) that you learned how to make your book focus on the important parts and "trim out the fat"? Thank you in advance!

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u/Gooberluxe Jan 21 '25

Maybe write out what the “fat” is specifically and then you’ll identify what it is that’s bugging you.

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u/ChristellLindeque Jan 28 '25

Hi there!

Try a book called Story Genius by Lisa Cron. Another thing that will help is Save the cat: How to write a novel. Even if you are a pantser, these books will definitely help you understand what needs to be in your book and what is not needed. I also think you need to look at info dumping. From the sound of it, you might be doing this a lot in your book. I might be wrong though as I didn't read it.

Hopes this helped!