Cut Words For Stronger Writing

All writers need to learn how to cut words. We often need to write to a maximum word count for our submissions and for contests. There are numerous ways to cut. Cutting words should be a part of your editing process. I am repeating an earlier post on this topic.  

The women in my online writing group request help in cutting words almost more than anything else. Many are writing toward a publication or a contest that sets a specific word count. When you are 100- 200 or more words over that number, something must be done.

Stephen King tells us to get rid of every ounce of excess fat. He knows from experience that this is not easy, that it hurts. 

Does cutting 200 words from your story or essay sound impossible? At first, it might seem so, but it's surprisingly easy to slash and slice when you do an edit. I've done it so I know others can, too.

One thing we writers often do is to add unnecessary words--ones like really, usually, even so, and others. There are lists of those unnecessary words. Look for them with a search engine. Many are words we often 'toss in' when we are speaking to someone. When writing, get rid of them.

Another way to cut is to look for sentences with something like this:  I came to a decision... Change it to I decided... Four words gone! That doesn't sound like very many, but take away four here, four there, and it adds up. 

Limit adjectives. Some writers use two or three for one noun. That's a lot for one little noun to bear. One works fine, and that one may make a bigger impression than if you used two or three. You could begin to sound gushy. 

Get rid of adverbs. They describe verbs and, if used, you end up telling rather than showing. Writers often use them to make passive verbs look better. I believe Stephen King also said something about the road to Hell being paved with adverbs. That's not a word for word for word quote. If you find a list of unnecessary words to cut, you'll discover that many are adverbs. 

Long, convoluted sentences can almost always be cut in some way. When a sentence is too long, it can overwhelm the reader to the point that they miss the message in the sentence. Cut as much as possible without losing the meaning. I often find it better to divide those long sentences into two separate ones It doesn't help you cut words but does help with clarity.

'He jumps over the fence that borders the park grounds.' What word can you do without in this sentence? Remove 'that' and change 'borders' to 'bordering' and 'that' is gone. Write 'The poem that I wrote won first prize.' Change it to 'The poem I wrote won first.' I cut 'that' and also 'prize' because 'that' is unnecessary to the meaning of the sentence, and saying 'first' indicates 'first prize.' Try going through a story in your files and circle all the 'that' words. Then go back and see how many of them can be cut without losing the meaning of the sentence. 

Don't introduce a sentence with phrases like:  Instead of, With the possible exception of, The reason why. Those are added words. Without them, the meaning of the sentence is still the same. Some writers use them for emphasis or to help clarify what the main part of the sentence tells us. They are not necessary in most cases.

In sentences where you begin with 'I think' 'I feel' or, 'I believe', those introductory words to the sentence are not needed. If you say 'I believe that cows are the sweetest farm animal.' and change to 'Cows are the sweetest farm animal.' nothing is lost except those two words at the beginning. 

Use active verb forms instead of ones like: Tommy was running to catch his buddies. Say: Tommy ran to his buddies. You've cut three words.

You can cut more words here and there with thought. Oops! I could have eliminated 'here and there' and maybe even 'with thought.' 

One big way to reduce your word count is to look for sections where you have repeated the same thought twice, even if using different words. Some writers do it to make sure their reader understands the point. We need to give our readers credit for being able to decipher what point we are making. Say it once, then cut the rest. You can delete whole paragraphs if one is redundant. 

You will find many ways to cut words when you edit. What seems a near-impossible job turns out to be easier than feared. The benefit comes in the form of stronger writing. 

Cutting Words in Your Writing

 

Slash! Cut! Snip! Ax! Clip!  All those words relate to our poster quote today. Stephen King's advice is always right on. We should heed his words since he has written so many successful novels and a wonderful reference book for writers titled "On Writing." 

I am in agreement with him about cutting the excess fat. Last night, I wrote a first draft of a story to submit to Chicken Soup for the Soul whose guidelines state no more than 1200 words. And they mean 1200 words. My draft was 1244, but I've done the cutting exercise so many times that I feel confident I can cut those 44 extra words, and maybe more, to make my story stronger and more concise. 

Most writers don't like to cut words they have written. They are precious, but if your story can be made better by cutting, then go for it. It's not as difficult a task as some think. And, as I said earlier, the more often you do the slashing words exercise, the better you become. A master slasher! (That phrase 'as I said earlier' could be cut without losing meaning in the sentence.)

How do you cut words? Read through the entire draft first, then go back and look at it paragraph by paragraph. You might be surprised by the number of times you repeat a word that isn't necessary. Let's look at several ways you can cut words.

A. Word Repetition:  You might find a section like this:  Alice drove to the beach with tears streaming. She'd go to the beach to forget him. She loved the beach.  20 words. Rewrite it like this:  Tears streaming, Alice drove to her beloved beach to forget him. 11 words. 

B.  Idea Repetition: Some writers fear that readers will not 'get' a point they are making, so they repeat the same idea in the next paragraph. You don't need to do this. Say it once and be done. Readers are capable of 'getting it' the first time. Another possibility is the writer is not sure what to write next, so the easy way out is to repeat the same idea using different words. All it does is add to the word count.

C.  Unnecessary words: When we talk or write, we tend to toss in many unnecessary words. They are words that have no bearing on the meaning, words that, when cut, do nothing harmful to the sentence. Words like 'just, very, really, usually, that, rather, quite, and probably' can be eliminated without losing meaning in the sentence. Google 'unnecessary words in writing' to read more.

D.  Dump the word 'the' in some places: We tend to use 'the' in many places where it is not necessary. The following sentence can be shortened. We use the recipe books and the hand-written ones from our mothers. Rewrite as: We use recipe books and hand-written ones from our mothers. You've cut two words and left the meaning. When you edit, look for places where 'the' can be dropped.

E. Eliminate 'that' when possible: In this sentence, We know that Paul will be late and that he will laugh about it. The word 'that' can be cut without losing any meaning. It would read: We know Paul will be late and he will laugh about it. 

F.  Cut adverbs and adjectives:  These are modifiers and are not always needed. Some writers think if one adjective is good, use two or three. That's overkill. One is fine, and most adverbs can be cut, too. Adverbs lead you into the trap of telling rather than showing.

G.  Conjunctions:  You can eliminate the 'and, but, or' words when you are writing a lengthy sentence. Instead, cut the conjunction and create two separate sentences. Do it in many places, and the number of words cut adds up.

H.  Lengthy sentences: Some writers love long sentences. Not only can they be divided into two sentences, but also lose some words. Read a very long sentence and note ways it can be trimmed.

If you can cut words without losing meaning, go ahead and ax them. The more you work on cutting words, the easier it becomes. You train your editing eye to look for places to cut. 

Cutting Words from Your Writing

 

The women in my online writing group request help in cutting words almost more than anything else. Many are writing toward a publication or a contest that sets a specific word count. When you are 100- 200 or more words over that number, something must be done.

Stephen King tells us to get rid of every ounce of excess fat. He knows from experience that this is not easy, that it hurts. 

Does cutting 200 words from your story or essay sound impossible? At first, it might seem so, but it's surprisingly easy to slash and slice when you do an edit. I've done it so I know others can, too.

One thing we writers often do is to add unnecessary words--ones like really, usually, even so, and others. There are lists of those unnecessary words. Look for them with a search engine. Many are words we often 'toss in' when we are speaking to someone. When writing, get rid of them.

Another way to cut is to look for sentences with something like this:  I came to a decision... Change it to I decided... Four words gone! That doesn't sound like very many, but take away four here, four there, and it adds up. 

Limit adjectives. Some writers use two or three for one noun. That's a lot for one little noun to bear. One works fine, and that one may make a bigger impression than if you used two or three. You could begin to sound gushy. 

Get rid of adverbs. They describe verbs and, if used, you end up telling rather than showing. Writers often use them to make passive verbs look better. I believe Stephen King also said something about the road to Hell being paved with adverbs. That's not a word for word for word quote. If you find a list of unnecessary words to cut, you'll discover that many are adverbs. 

Long, convoluted sentences can almost always be cut in some way. When a sentence is too long, it can overwhelm the reader to the point that they miss the message in the sentence. Cut as much as possible without losing the meaning. I often find it better to divide those long sentences into two separate ones It doesn't help you cut words but does help with clarity.

'He jumps over the fence that borders the park grounds.' What word can you do without in this sentence? Remove 'that' and change 'borders' to 'bordering' and 'that' is gone. Write 'The poem that I wrote won first prize.' Change it to 'The poem I wrote won first.' I cut 'that' and also 'prize' because 'that' is unnecessary to the meaning of the sentence, and saying 'first' indicates 'first prize.' Try going through a story in your files and circle all the 'that' words. Then go back and see how many of them can be cut without losing the meaning of the sentence. 

Don't introduce a sentence with phrases like:  Instead of, With the possible exception of, The reason why. Those are added words. Without them, the meaning of the sentence is still the same. Some writers use them for emphasis or to help clarify what the main part of the sentence tells us. They are not necessary in most cases.

In sentences where you begin with 'I think' 'I feel' or, 'I believe', those introductory words to the sentence are not needed. If you say 'I believe that cows are the sweetest farm animal.' and change to 'Cows are the sweetest farm animal.' nothing is lost except those two words at the beginning. 

Use active verb forms instead of ones like: Tommy was running to catch his buddies. Say: Tommy ran to his buddies. You've cut three words.

You can cut more words here and there with thought. Oops! I could have eliminated 'here and there' and maybe even 'with thought.' 

One big way to reduce your word count is to look for sections where you have repeated the same thought twice, even if using different words. Some writers do it to make sure their reader understands the point. We need to give our readers credit for being able to decipher what point we are making. Say it once, then cut the rest. You can delete whole paragraphs if one is redundant. 

You will find many ways to cut words when you edit. What seems a near-impossible job turns out to be easier than feared. The benefit comes in the form of stronger writing. 

One Tool Writers Should Use

Writer's Tools

The writer's toolbox above shows lots of pencils and one pair of scissors. We know we'll use those pencils when we write something in longhand but why the scissors? They cut, don't they?

Cutting is as much a part of writing as putting the words down for that first draft. Many Writer Guidelines specify a word count. You'd better stick to what they recommend or your submission will be tossed like an empty milk carton. 

Let's face it. Writers hate to cut any of the precious words they have written. Take another look at the preceding sentence. It's 12 words. I could have written it this way: Writers hate to cut precious words they've written. The meaning is the same but it's now 8 words. Do that with enough sentences and you can cut a good number of words.

You can do away with the word the in many instances. The dancers dipped and swayed across the stage. It loses nothing if you write the sentence this way:  Dancers dipped and swayed across the stage. Sure, it's only one word but cutting a word here and there throughout a full piece of writing can make a difference. A faucet may drip one drop at a time but the amount of water adds up fairly fast. Don't belittle one drip or that one word.

Another way to cut is to use contractions. Instead of have not, use haven't. Only one word cut but you can use a lot of contractions in a 1000 word piece. I'll, I'd, He'd, can't, won't and many more.

How about using also instead of in addition to? Or use conversely instead of on the other hand. You get rid of 2 words in the first example and 3 in the second one. 

We all use too many of those unnecessary words like really, very, up, down and many others. Google a list of unnecessary words. You'll be amazed at how many there are. 

Another way to cut is to make sure you have not made the same point but using different words twice. It's so easy to make a point in an essay and in the very next paragraph say it again. Different words may mask it but why repeat the same thing? Get rid of the second sentence, or even paragraph, and you've cut a lot of words and not bored your reader by being redundant.  

When you read through your first draft, make sure the points you have made are necessary, that they pertain to the topic. It's all too easy to toss in something that sounds nice but is off-topic. Cut it!

One more way to cut words is to be stingy with adjectives. One or two is just fine. There are writers who persist in using a handful. You can cut a good many adverbs, too. They get you in enough trouble by telling rather than showing.

Ther are many small ways to cut words. The more you practice, the better you will become at recognizing how to do it. One of the big benefits of cutting words is that you will end with a piece with stronger writing.