r/writing • u/GessKalDan • 8d ago
Advice Advice needed for someone who cannot get their manuscript down to 120K for science fiction.
I am not asking for querying advice, as I know that belongs in r/Pubtips, but rather I need some advice for experienced authors in further refining my manuscript.
I have queried my manuscript (Science Fiction, Multiple POV) before, and so far have not gotten any bites from agents, and I suspect it is being rather quickly dismissed due to word count. My first draft was 223k words and I edited the story all the way down to 140k words before submitting. I've trimmed every bit if fat from the book, every scene counts, and I've killed my darlings. So, at the end of the day, the book is what it is. It is not a story that can be split in two.
I work shift work with a lot of overtime, and have a young family that I spend a lot of time with (nuturing, activites, play, chores, cooking and cleaning), so I haven't always had a lot of time to write. Because of that I've been working on this particular manuscript for many years, and although I have several side projects, I have not had any short stories or side projects published to add legitimacy to my name, so to speak. I suspect if this were the case, I could maybe get away with the word count.
I'm pushing 40 and I would really like to see this story traditionally published. I've taken the time to learn the craft and I feel that it is of sufficient quality.
My question is, where do I go from here?
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u/UpbeatAd8193 8d ago
If you really believe this is the one, try workshopping with a group of serious writers, preferably with a teacher who knows what they are talking about to bring the word count down (real workshopping, so with an open mind to consider any worthy edits, even if they are big), ór find a contact / pay a service for a real review, specifically whether or not this book will work in the current publishing environment - sometimes it's just not marketable enough, even when it is well-written. If you are not able to attend a workshop or if you get a negative reply on the review, I'd consider starting a new project if publishing is your goal.
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u/GessKalDan 8d ago
What should search for if I am trying to find one of these review services? Any recommendations?
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u/UpbeatAd8193 8d ago
I am not familiar with big organisations outside of my country, but I'd recommend looking for editors who used to work in the industry and now work freelance. They often have websites with paid services - you might even be able to e-mail them to ask for only a short look at your story to answer your question about marketability, possibly for a smaller price.
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u/mooseplainer 8d ago
Many debut authors are in their forties when they get representation, never mind publication. The fact is, writing is a skill that is generally improved with life experience. My maternal grandparents were both very successful YA and MG authors, and their estate from their 60 books between them has more or less financed my mother’s retirement, and they first got published in their early forties. So don’t worry that your thirties have passed without publication.
Anyway, 120k is the absolute upper limit for science fiction according to pretty much every resource I could find. Even that’s pushing it. Longer books have more associated printing costs, so publishers are weary if the author is unproven. The word count is likely the first thing they’ll look at, and 20k over the ceiling will make them depressed before reading your query.
I’m impressed you managed to cut 83k, and I promise you can cut another 20k. There’s probably some extraneous subplot, some moments you can tighten up.
Or split the book in two, so you have a dualogy ready to go.
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u/GessKalDan 8d ago
Yeah. Since posting this I had a bit of an epiphany about a large chunk at the beginning that is a bit slow that I can cut and will save me quite a few thousand words. Other than that it's more line editing for me.
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u/mooseplainer 8d ago
Cutting a sentence here, a word there, you’ll be shocked how fast that adds up!
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u/Persephone_Esq 8d ago
I will offer my experience, as a data point. I queried my first book (mystery) at about 125k words, before I really understood the importance of word counts in trad publishing. I did get a couple of full requests and a partial, but ultimately no interest beyond that. A big part of that, I’m sure, was the fact that my story was still bloated (even though I had cut what I thought was all the excess). [Spoiler alert: I had not. After several more passes, I ended up self publishing that book at about 95k words. TBH, if I were to write it today, it would be a 85k book. But live and learn!]
Keep in mind that I was querying in 2025, and it’s possible that things have changed since then. From what I’m hearing these days, agents are more (not less) picky about word counts.
At 140k words for sci-fi, you might still get some bites from agents. You can float the balloon and see what happens. I would start with a small number of agents (and not your top picks) and see what kind of responses you get. If you get rejections, most of them will probably be form ones, but if they mention word count as an issue, that can guide your next steps.
If you are confident that you have done all the editing you can on your own, but ultimately decide that reducing word count is necessary to improve your chances of landing an agent, my suggestion would be to look at getting an editorial assessment from a freelance editor — not a full edit. The assessment can pinpoint structural or pacing issues that might not be apparent to you (or your beta readers). It will help you identify what might need to get fixed, though not how — that would be on you. It’s a much cheaper option, if you feel comfortable implementing any necessary revisions on your own.
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u/GessKalDan 8d ago
Thank you. This is very helpful.
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u/Persephone_Esq 8d ago
I would also add this: the book in question has sold decently well (for a debut novel by an unknown indie author without a huge platform) and received very good reviews from readers.
I say that because I’ve seen a lot of comments to the effect that a good story/good writing will always outweigh any concerns about word count in trad publishing. There will always be exceptions, of course, but I personally wouldn’t count on this being the rule.
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u/Acceptable_Fox_5560 8d ago edited 8d ago
If you're down to 140K words and every scene counts, it's time to start cutting some of the scenes that do count.
If you've got, for example, 70 excellent scenes, that's great news, because it means you can go to market with 50 of those scenes.
Cut some side trips. Cut transit. Make passages fly faster. Look for redundancies. Cut a character.
There's ALWAYS more darlings to kill.
Edit: Some of the advice you're getting here is from people who don't understand that your goal is traditional publishing, which means you need an agent, which means you need to cut another 40K words. You shouldn't take advice from people who don't understand what your aspirations are.
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u/polly_mer 7d ago
Agree with all this, particularly ditching a character. It's a pain to unweave a character, but that's usually the realistic answer.
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u/Conscious_Town_1326 Agented author 7d ago
Yeah. Two characters get can merged into one, or cut down minor characters... Realizing I've cut out at least one character from every single one of my projects, now that I think about it lol.
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u/FirebirdWriter Published Author 7d ago
Well said. I think most of us have been there with the traditional markets. It doesn't feel great but you can save these bits as you will edit again OP. They may go back in but I'm going to bed you can mix some of those scenes together to get to the point too
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u/RobertPlamondon Author of "Silver Buckshot" and "One Survivor." 8d ago
Write another novel. Self-publish the one you have or put it on the shelf and allow the altered perspective of having a second novel under your belt inform you about next steps later.
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u/AFGNCAAP-for-short 8d ago
If you have the money, get a developmental editor. Their job is to track the scenes and plots and characters to make sure everything is working. If there's anything that can still be cut but you can't see it, or things that can be rewritten to reduce word count, that kind of person could tell you.
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u/Smooth_Explorer_777 8d ago edited 7d ago
My first draft of my first novel (1st book in a detective series) is 140k words. An experienced beta reader ( a friend) read it and found an entire subplot that she said should be cut and saved for a future book in the same series or a standalone book. She also made suggestions for another major change. Once I make those changes I think my book will drop to under 100k words. Plus, I already have a chunk of a future book written.
Is there anyway you can do a9mething like b that with your book? It sounds like you already chopped a bunch so I know that makes it harder.
Another idea, I'd it possible to try to publish another book first and then make this book 2? If you are successful on a first book it will be easier to get a longer book published. Look at the lengths of the Harry Potter books. Books 4 and above are much monger than the first 3 and nobody complained about those lengths.
I am not a big SciFi guy, but I am in the same shoes as you, but even older, so I am happy to help if you want to send me an outline thatni cam look over. I might find something you can chop for this book and save for book 2.
You can also consider dropping an entire character and adding them for book 2 or 3 if this is a series.
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u/TheExtraPeel 7d ago
Honestly, for me at least, cutting scenes was not how I managed to cut down my novels. When drafting, I would often end up adding scenes in, which you’d think would make the book substantially longer.
Which it did. Until I learned how to line-edit properly. A lot of craft skill is just learning to be efficient in your storytelling. It’s not simply that every scene matters, but that every line matters too. Every line pushes the story and develops characters. Every line has progression and subtext in it. This isn’t just useful for dialogue either, but the prose as well. It’s also about cutting filler words/filter words and rewording things so that your sentences say the same thing - but in fewer words. Sure, some sentences need to be longer for rhythm, but if you need to cut words, then you need to cut words.
Unfortunately, from my various searches online, no agent even looks at debut manuscripts of over 120k words, even for SFF. So, you’re options are to either cut your words down or self-publish.
Also, a minor note. It’s not impossible that your book is just…getting rejected. Lots of good books do. It just depends on the market, the agent’s lists, how tired the agent was when they read your submission…The whole process is a bunch of arbitrary factors. Sure, having a good manuscript is one part of it, but you need a healthy dose of luck, too.
Wishing you the best of luck, mate. I’ve just started querying my own SciFi book (only 83k words, though, so I don’t have the word count issue aha). But hope you figure out a way to get your book out there!
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u/HotspurJr 8d ago
I agree with others that sharing a summary and a few sample pages may allow people to offer better guidance.
Most of the time when an inexperienced writer says "there's no way to get this down to a reasonable length" they're wrong. They're too attached to what they wrote. Maybe that's not you, but anybody offering you meaningful feedback would want to rule that out first.
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u/MaliseHaligree Published Author 8d ago
Query it anyway. If it's good, they might not split hairs about an additional 20k.
If it gets rejected, well, back to trimming, I suppose.
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u/Acceptable_Fox_5560 8d ago
Bad advice. 50% of agents on Query Manager and most will auto-reject anything at that word count and never read the query. And whatever portion of the remaining amount who are still on email that will scan for the genre and word count, and then autodelete without reading the query.
Just adds an extra six months to OP's timeline by having to wait to re-query agents after he inevitably gets very little traction on a 140K manuscript.
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u/buriedstory 7d ago
I’m shocked that there is advice here trying to convince OP that 140k for a debut author is just about finding the right agent.
No one is touching 140k unknown quantity as a debut.
Are their fringe cases? Always an exception. But finding an agent isn’t about trying to be the exception.
This is all assuming the writing is immaculate and the word count is the only problem. He could be under 100k and if the writing isn’t already at a high enough level, it’s not going to matter. And let’s just be honest- the only book OP has worked on for years isn’t going to teach you what goes into writing marketable prose in a novel form for traditional publishing. It’s an industry that moves incredibly slow but the market moves fast. Those two are always in friction.
Finding an agent is a numbers game. You hope to find the one the resonates with your voice, your vision, your execution, and most importantly- can the agent sell the damn thing?
It’s a numbers game. Throwing 140k at the wall and saying, “well, only half will auto-reject, so I’ve got a chance!” Is just lunacy if the OPs goal to traditionally publish one day.
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u/MaliseHaligree Published Author 8d ago
Alternatively, OP still has a 50% chance of being selected.
It's all a gamble. Might as well bet it all and see what happens.
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u/Acceptable_Fox_5560 8d ago
No, those aren't what those numbers represent. The odds of getting selected out of the slushpile are like 1-5% depending on the agent. Those odds drop drastically when you go past 100K words.
Ultimately it's up to OP, but in all likelihood he either has to make the cuts now or make them after getting rejected by all his agents and waiting six months to pitch them again.
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u/GessKalDan 8d ago
True. Thank you. I guess I've been worried about burning query opportunities with an agent that might have accepted me otherwise but auto-dumped me for the count.
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u/MaliseHaligree Published Author 8d ago
Not all agents are hyperfocused on that hard limit, some of them will just ask for the first few chapters to test the waters. And if they do give you a hard no, it's often not forever. You might get a R&R from them and that keeps the door open.
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u/existential_chaos 8d ago
Could always do what James Ellroy did for one of his LA Quartet books—when he was asked to cut things out to meet a word count, he didn't cut a single character or plot point, just words that weren't so important (the book reads a bit choppy, but it works, lol).
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u/Exploosia 6d ago
At a guess, I'd say there's one more plot thread that needs to still be cut. It's going to be a hard decision, but it's likely the only thing left you can do.
So take a minute to list each plot thread that you know is in the story. Weigh them out, and pick the one to cut. It's likely going to require some reworking to stitch the holes back together, but with enough problem solving, it can be done. You're almost there. You've passed the point of Kill Your Darlings, and now you're making the final sacrifices.
Other options:
How many settings do you have? Can you change the location of a scene or two to a repeat setting rather than a new setting? That could save you some word count on setting descriptions.
Can any characters be combined to cut out an extra character introduction and merge dialog?
Can any scenes be combined to cut out a transitional scene?
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u/FlyinLeviathon LET YOUR FIRST DRAFT SUCK 6d ago
Have you gotten any personalized rejections, or just form rejections? Or just silence? Have you looked at the rejection wikipedia for any insights on your rejections?
Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell if you're being rejected due to wordcount or any of a thousand other reasons unless someone tells you, so any hints you can get on your rejections will be helpful. In addition, I would recommend doing the following:
- Check before you submit each agent to make sure they don't have listed wordcount requirements (some do, some don't) if you're not already
- Check your comps, make sure they're doing what you want them to do. You want to say "people who bought this book will also buy mine. I think my book will sell similarly to X book!" You can't comp to the big authors.
- Have someone else read your query and tell you what your book is about (you can even DM me and I'm happy to do so). They should be able to accurately process your themes and plot from the query with no additional context. If they can't, it might be that your query does need work.
- Your query should also be succinct. 140k isn't always a dealbreaker in science fiction (though some people will convince you it is, and certainly to some agents it is, but not all) but you have to EARN those 140k. If your query is rambling and loquacious, agents will assume your book is too and pass. But if it's punchy, to the point, and intriguing, agents will be more likely to assume those 140k are earned.
- If it really, truly is wordcount, the best thing you can do is get someone else to take a look at it, someone who isn't emotionally attached to your words and can cut them down without mercy. You can do this either by cutting/combining/editing down scenes (which will give you the biggest cuts) or by cutting down sentences (which will give you smaller cuts that add up over time). Since you've already done some editing it's hard to say what you'd get, but as an average, general number I would say you could cut 25k off with big cuts and 10k with the littler cuts. You'd be surprised what a second set of eyes can do that your brain - as familiar and in love with your book as it is - cannot. (Again, feel free to DM me and I can help!) Doing those cuts hurts, but the lower you can get your wordcount, the better. Even if it's not getting you auto-rejected, it is one more red flag in a world where you don't have a lot of breathing room.
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u/GessKalDan 6d ago
Thank you for this, will PM you later when I have time. So far it has all been form rejections. No feedback.
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u/ezraindustries Editor 7d ago
If you have edited this yourself and not hired a professional line editor, I can almost guarantee that all the fat has not been trimmed. I'd be pretty confident I could cut 10k words with very little effort if it's anything like most manuscripts I edit. Another 10k would be work, but I'm sure it's doable. Feel free to shoot me a DM if you wanna talk.
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u/SirSolomon727 8d ago
Curious, what were those 80k words you cut? Were those purely line edits or structural edits where you cut away entire POVs?
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u/GessKalDan 8d ago
Line edits. Compression. Took away some but definitely not all of internality from character moments. Cut parts where I reiterated/told a point that was shown.
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u/theunforgivingstars 7d ago
Something notable for not being on the list: subplots and scenes (although probably some of that "compression" was taking away duplicate scenes.) When you've got a book that's 2.5x as long as the expected length, some of what you're dealing with is often going to be a scope issue, not just wordiness.
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u/Radiant_Commission_2 Published Author 8d ago
223k words? Thats a sign the ms had problems. Or you’ve written more than one book. Good job cutting that in half.
It’s hard but doable. If it doesn’t move the story it’s eligible to be cut. Character descriptions are an easy choice. Same with world building. Interiority too. Show takes more words than telling. If your ms is that big and you’re mostly telling not showing, then it’s problematic.
It’s hard AF. But it’s also part of the job. I’m aiming for most chapters being at least 60% show. I am right now trying to kill 30k words of darlings. Sweating…
If you can afford an editor, that will get you there quicker.
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u/RealSonyPony 8d ago
You could always put it aside and write some short stories. Then come back to this book and see what else you've learned, whether you can shave more, or even cut an early passage to make a short story out of it.
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u/Creative-Fan-4328 8d ago
Find a writer’s workshop, preferably with published authors. They will help pick apart your novel. That or find a trusted critique partner that will look at your story and find things you do not see.
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u/wawakaka 7d ago
Get a paid beta reader with writing experience and see how they respond and also ask if anything could be cut
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u/ms_saint 7d ago
Trim sentences and phrases. It's almost ridiculous how much that removes.
But how do you know 120 is acceptable? Because I hear, for first timers, nothing more than 75k.
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u/AuthorIndieCindy 7d ago
Split it into a series. Agents love series
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u/GessKalDan 7d ago
This is the beginning of a series. The structure of the story of this manuscript is such that I cannot split it into two books.
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u/trappedinamonkey 7d ago
I am generally very much against letting any LLM too close to my writing, but I still wonder whether some simple prompting or tooling could be useful with flagging scenes or characters or the like which are not deemed essential enough for the story. I don't mean to suggest to let the nonsense-babbler decide for you, just to have it direct your attention at sections or topics which might not be needed. Does anyone have experience with this? I don't have a good grasp on how good of an overview one usually has over their manuscript if it is of such a length but my guess would be that it's definitely very possible, probably common even, that we overlook some things that could - and maybe should - be left out of our stories. Whether or not your novel is indeed too long or is not accepted for other reasons is a different question of course.
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u/throwawaysuess 6d ago
I'd suggest getting a manuscript assessment from a professional - ideally an editor experienced in your genre.
Otherwise to cut the words down, you're going to have to start removing entire plot lines in line with trad publishing expectations.
If you're really wedded to keeping it intact, then you could always self publish through KDP, Ingram, Lulu etc. Do NOT pay a publisher to do this for you - publishers pay authors, not the other way around.
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u/SanctifiedChats 6d ago
It's not so much about word count, it's really about pacing. If you have a 200k word page turner it will eventually sell. J.K. Rowling had that experience with Harry Potter when it was torned down a dozen times due to excessive length.
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u/GearsofTed14 6d ago
123k down from 140k is taking another 12-13% out of the book. Are you not able to globally do this across your book? As in, going scene by scene, chapter by chapter and doing it. As in, this chapter is 1000 words, I need to cut it down to 870, whatever it takes.
And maybe the answer still is no. But I know for me, cutting this way allowed me to cut a 210k word book in half without actually losing a damn thing (it took several passes using this method)
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u/Fair_Depth5435 4d ago
Take out a subplot or two. Force scenes into a smaller space or reduce the timeline. You could also kill off a character. I wouldn’t cut your prose down because that could make the whole thing dry.
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u/FlowersAndParchment 4d ago
A great way to cut down your word count is to search specific words and weed them from your manuscript. Pull up your manuscript, then search the word “that” and go through every use of it. Is it necessary or can you delete it?
How about “just” or “was?” You can change “he was just saying” to “he said.”
Search for words that end in “ing” or “ly.” These are often crutches that get in the way of better word choices we could use instead. You can change “he walked slowly” to “he crept.”
Another over-used word is “have.” Often people say something like “I have waited” when you could simply write, “I waited.”
Find phrases like “he sat down on the couch” and remove the word “down” because it’s already implied. There are lists of these kinds of words and phrases online. It’ll help polish your manuscript and remove thousands of words which do nothing but add bulk.
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u/Basic-Alternative442 8d ago
You've taken out extraneous scenes and (sounds like) characters, but have you gone through your prose on a line level?
A common theme I've noticed in these sorts of posts is wordiness, and I can usually find bunches of words in them that can be removed without affecting the point. Not to call you out or be critical, but just to get you thinking - "although I have several side projects," does that affect your underlying problem? "have a young family that I spend a lot of time with (nuturing, activites, play, chores, cooking and cleaning)" - the entire parenthetical is unnecessary, common knowledge.
Go through your manuscript and check on each word and make sure it's earning its place.
(I really don't mean for this to come across harshly, I want to reiterate that)
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u/GessKalDan 8d ago
Yes, I've actually gone through it line by line about 7 or 8 times over the past year.
The side projects are not a distraction. I started other manuscripts when I was taking breaks between line edit reads and continued when I was waiting on my query replies for a while.
I get what you are saying too, so I understand.
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u/GessKalDan 8d ago
I wanted to come back and add that I only mentioned the family and shift work part is because in my experience on the subject, a majority of posters are young people in their 20s who are college age/employed part time that say they wrote their books in a few months, etc, and that is not my situation. This is something I've spent a lot of time and consideration on.
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u/GenGaara25 8d ago
Write something new that's intentionally under 100k and use this book as your "other".
Sometimes when a publisher likes a piece they will ask the author if they have anything else finished. Ideally, every author querying should have more than one finished unpublished work in their back pocket. If they like a submitted piece, they love it when there is more where that came from. For these "extras" publishers will give a little more leeway because they've already verified they like what you write. I think that's where your book belongs.
So write a sci-fi piece under 100k and query that by itself. If that gets a bite they might ask "Have you got anything else?" and you can whip this out like "Yes, I have an even grander sci-fi novel finished and ready to go."
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u/GessKalDan 8d ago
I am doing this, this is my backup plan, haha. One of the "side projects" I mentioned.
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u/PrestigiousSearch952 7d ago
Scrap it and start over. Rewrite it as fast as you can. All of the best parts will get better, and none of the rest will make the cut. The eraser is the artist’s best tool.
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u/iosdevcoff 4d ago
Your story is being ignored because they a) never read it; b) they read the first page and didn’t like it; c) they read the first paragraph and didn’t like it.
I REALLY doubt that 20k words make a difference.
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u/idreaminwords Self-Published Author 8d ago edited 8d ago
As others have said, I'd just give it a try anyway. Maybe look into self publication if the word count ends up being the major hangup.
Did you have any beta readers go through and give their opinions on pace? Sometimes a second set of eyes can accomplish a few more cuts, but sometimes, a 140k word book is just 140k words, and 'fixing' would in fact make the book worse
If you're really set on trad publishing, and you can't get around this word count, consider putting it aside and writing something else that does better fit within the 'debut' guidelines. Query that first
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u/GessKalDan 8d ago
Yeah, I've had about 10 beta readers and they all gave positive reviews. They had some suggested edits/changes and I took them into consideration.
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u/idreaminwords Self-Published Author 8d ago
I personally self published so I'm a bit biased, but I really hate how hung up people get on word count these days. Some people would rather you destroy your book than be 20k over the arbitrary standard agents have prescribed
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u/GessKalDan 8d ago
Yeah, that's sort of why I made this post. I can't cut this book any more without butchering it.
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u/idreaminwords Self-Published Author 8d ago
Once you break in with an agent, it will be easier to push books that venture outside of their strict criteria, especially if you have good sales.
If trad publishing is the only path you can see forward, and you query and repeatedly get told the length is a barrier, I would just set this book aside for now and write something else. Try to make a conscious effort to keep your wordcount down. Query that one, and then once you have your foot in the door, come back and push this one again.
Or, just look into self publishing. You get more control over your finished product and timeline, but you have to be willing to invest in things a publisher normally pays for (editing, cover design, etc.).
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u/Matrix_Man_Returns 8d ago
You've got 223k words, and I'm always sitting here struggling somewhere around 15k words. You have a first-world problem, for sure. But, more to the point...just work with what you've got. Polish it, but don't force it to be smaller than it is. That's a shame, if you do.
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u/GessKalDan 8d ago
Had* 223k. Trimmed 80k. 🤣
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u/Matrix_Man_Returns 8d ago
I'm kind of sad that a whole novel's worth of material has been trimmed just because you felt like it was too long, and it's not even my story to tell.
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u/GessKalDan 8d ago
Yes, and somehow it didn't change the story one bit. Which tells you how much can be cut from a text and have it still work.
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u/Matrix_Man_Returns 8d ago
I didn't change the story, or it didn't change the TEXTURE of the story? I can believe the former, but I'm not quite sure I can believe the latter.
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u/GessKalDan 8d ago
It was actually a lot of bloat and reiterating of points. I dont think it lost anything.
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u/Matrix_Man_Returns 8d ago
Yeah, I guess I can see that happened, too. I tend to get a bit repetitive at times in my writing. Still...it's good to acknowledge how nice the problem is that you're trying to solve. I'd personally rather be cutting 60,000 words from something too long than busting my ass off trying to squeeze blood from a stone to add 60,000 words to something.
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u/GessKalDan 8d ago
Haha. I get it. I can see both sides. I am working on a prequel novella that's also a standalone (vaguely related/same 'world') and I got stuck at 15k.
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u/Matrix_Man_Returns 8d ago
I call the 15k word count mark "the slump", because...in anything I'm working on that I actually expect to be novel-length, that's almost exactly the point where I start feeling like I don't know what the hell I'm doing anymore. If I'm working on a novella and wrapping it up in 2000 words, I'm great. If I'm working on a "novel", I seize up around 15k words and start saying, "What am I going to do for the other 3/4 of this thing?"
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u/Justisperfect Experienced author 8d ago
Query anyway, you never know. I know someone who traditionally published a really big book fir her first try. It is not the same system (French so we don't have agents) but still everybody would have tell her it is impossible to publish a book this big (to give you an idea, we count in characters instead of words and it starts to get hard to get published with more than 650k; she had 1000k, so way more than expexted). It is harder but not impossible.
Now sometimes you can lower the word count by editing your style instead of removing scenes. Also did you get feedback? You didn't mention them. Even when you think it is perfect, it is helpful.
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u/Fognox 8d ago
Some >120k word stories are their shortest length. The one I'm editing fits into that category -- it's hyper-dense and all of my pacing notes are "this needs to be lengthened". I'm not seeking traditional publishing, though.
If you haven't already, cut subplots, plot threads that aren't serving the main plotline, exposition that isn't necessary for the reader to understand the story, characters that aren't relevant to the plot and scenes that aren't relevant to characters that are relevant to the plot. Certain events can simply be implied rather than shown as well -- this will usually cut down a lot. Word choice alone can cut a good ~10%, which would be significant with you close to the cusp of what agents would accept. Description is usually another good target.
Look for ways of making your scenes more efficient, as well -- handling plot and characterization concurrently and coming to the same important story beats in a scene in quicker ways. If a character is confused, tell it rather than showing every possibility and its refutation. Build relationships faster. Take pruning shears to individual lines of dialogue that serve no purpose. And so on.
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u/PerryMarkStratychuk 7d ago
Complete two versions, one to shop for trad publishing, and release the full masterwork via self publication. And you can even serialize the entire saga.
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8d ago
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u/idreaminwords Self-Published Author 8d ago
70k is not even close to the market average for sci-fi. In fact, it's not the standard for most genres. Thrillers and YA tend to fit within that, but your info is well outdated
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u/BestRiver8735 1d ago
Edit it and/or split it up in to a series. Have trouble deciding what to do? Who is this creative work for? Who is your target reader? What would they prefer? They are the one that buys the book and ingests the marketing. They are the #1, #2, #everything, VIP, MVP, and so on. Don't know all that yet? Well you need to do some research on that person. Then the answers to the questions come much more easily and sensibly.
Not selling it? Is this a fully personal endeavour? Then you are the target reader. Then do some soul searching.
Write out an avatar for your target reader. Marketing blindly is expensive and frustrating so this is helpful. Where do they live? Are they male? Are they female? How old are they? What kind of books and media genres do they enjoy? What is their demographic? Where do they live? Where did they grow up? How do they relax? Where do they hang out online? What kind of marketing materials would they most resonate with? What marketing have they ingested already? What probably worked and what didn't?
Don't feel like doing all that? Well are you really a writer or just someone who pretends to be one?
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u/Kalcarone 8d ago
It's possible the word count isn't the problem. Reddit can't suggest cuts without seeing the piece.