Two steps forward…

This post is for all you writers, writer-wannabes and those just interested in the process. Lots of folks have been asking me about my progress on Shaken. Well, I have to say it’s been a bit of a dance lately. Two steps forward and one step back.

I am trying to follow recommendations made by two different agents and one published author to lengthen the novel to 60,000 words. Since it was 30,000 at the time, that meant doubling it. Wow. That is tough for me, since whenever I edit, I tend to go through and cut extraneous words and phrases. If it doesn’t move the story along, snip. Too wordy? Clip. Lacks a point? Cut. But adding? After the story is complete? That’s been a challenge.

Lately it’s been like hiking a zig-zag path. I write 2500 words in one spot, cut 1200 in another. So my word count is edging up, but slowly. I keep a spreadsheet of my progress. Yesterday was a discouraging day. I worked for hours, adding whole sections, dialogue and fun historical detail. Then I went and cut a large section of backstory that didn’t really move the story along. I ended up with a word count for the day of negative 425 words. Ugh. Not the direction I was wanting to travel.

And yet, as I go through this process, the story is getting edgier, tighter and more exciting. Today, I worked for another few hours and added 1,200 words. I actually added more than that, but when you calculate in the words I cut… Well, you get the picture. My total word count is up to 49,300. Only 10, 700 to go. Or as my hubbie says, add another 20,000 and then I can feel free to cut 10,000.

I am determined to get the story up to 60,000 if I have to write the last 5,000 in blood. And that might be a challenge with a laptop.

And yet, I do not want to add words just to make the story meet some pretend goal that someone set out for it. I only want to add words that strengthen the plot and the characters. Though I was hesitant to add words originally, Shaken is so much better than it was when I started the rewrite process. It has pushed me to dig deeper for this character and the plot. I am excited to see where the next 10,000 words (or 20,000 minus 10,000) takes things. It’s very possible that the best parts of this story are not even written yet. And that gives me chills!