The numbers thus far

[desperance]

Lawks. I've finished editing/redrafting/revising/rewriting (however you like to look at it; I think editing is probably closest) the first three of four parts to "River of the World", and thus far I have cut 27,304 words out of 110,001. Which, your arithmetical minds will tell you, is damn' near a quarter. To be precise, it's 24.8%.

Sheesh. Either it was deeply seriously flabby before, or I have been hacking away good sweet flesh just to get the pagecount down, and the residue will be bone-bare and unlovely. Who can tell?

I still have the longest section to go, another 80,000 words, more or less, and I expect to find fewer to cut. Indeed, so many have gone already, I've almost lost my incisive impetus: as though I've done the tough-love thing, and can give the little darling some leeway now. Tut. Discipline endures. See discipline endure...

Comments

[davidbarnett.livejournal.com]

My first published novel was roughly 83,000 words and that made 300 pages paperback, but it was an odd format (larger than average), but the type was pretty unusual, too. So that's probably no guide at all.