100 word minimum

The delete key is my friend

First, because I can, a pretty picture:

Richmond skyline of the past

Second, some writing for you:

(Or the opposite of writing?) I think I'm deleting a hundred words, minimum, from The Egyptian Building every day. Since it was written for NaNoWriMo, I was cranking out the words like crazy. Must. Get. Word. Count. Why use one word when four will do? Now I'm editing and saying, This paragraph? Totally adds nothing to the story. Delete. Whee! All these little words? I only need one medium-sized word.

Even with all the excess verbiage, I'm still finding problems with pacing. Some happenings go by whiplash fast. They need more words. Other things may not need to take so long. I'm not deleting everything that seems excessive. Authors who elide too much bother me and sometimes more story is a good thing.

Some things in the story surprise me. Throwaway stuff, written solely for the word counts, ends up being . okay.

161 words | April 2, 2006 09:43 PM | Writer's block