Word Count--Snip, Cut, Slash!

One of the most difficult tasks a writer has is to cut words from a story, personal essay, article--whatever he/she might be writing. In the first place, you've written those words, so you have a personal interest in them. Think of the toddler picking up a toy and bellowing "Mine!" That's how some writers feel about words written.

To be realistic, there are many times when we must cut those first drafts, or even fully finished pieces to meet a word count specified by an editor or contest guidelines. That's what happened to me this week.

I noticed a category in my state writing contest guidelines that I had never entered in past years. An old story came to mind, and I thought it might work. I pulled up the story from my files and read it. Yep. It would work. Then I read the guidelines again. Maximum of 1000 words. Clicked back to the story, looked at the word count and deflated pretty fast. It was 1312 words. 312 words over the limit. In a contest, when they say 1000 words, they mean it. Anything over would be disqualified. 

So, what to do? I didn't need to snip a few words or cut quite a lot. It would require slashing. Would I lose something in the story if I did that? Was it even possible? I decided to give it a try, so I spent a good part of an afternoon slashing through the story, keeping my eye on the lower left-hand corner where the word count appeared. As I worked on the story, the number went down a little at a time. 

Even so, it seemed I'd never hit that magic number.

I worked paragraph by paragraph the first time; then I went back and continued cutting and rearranging. Not just once but a few times. By the time I finished, my word count was 993. Sitting back, feeling satisfied, I wondered why I'd written those extra words in the first place. The real test was about to come.

I read the edited story from start to finish. The main story was still there. The important pieces had not changed. The best part turned out to be that my story appeared stronger than it had when it took me 1312 words to tell it. 

What did I cut out? 

• unnecessary words or phrases (just, really, very etc)
• information that seemed to be repetitious
• cut adjectives in some places from two to one
• less description
• some of the sensory details (not all, however)
• rearranged some sentences so it took fewer words to convey the meaning
• dropped a few dialogue tags where it was obvious who was speaking

The next time you are in a position where you must cut words. Don't fret. It can be done. You can snip, cut, and slash until you reach the number you've set as your goal.