My revisions end up being longer than the original, though I know many writers say that a draft always need to be cut significantly. I do cut, but I add more than I cut, apparently.
I’d like to hear from other writers. Is your revised material on average longer or shorter than your original draft?
It gets longer unless I really focus on what’s absolutely necessary.
One thing I’ve been struggling with is that I try to explain everything to the reader instead of trusting the reader to understand what I’m saying. That adds a bit of bloat.
I’m in the middle of final revisions. My first chapter was entirely a ‘good’ cut, with about ten percent hacked off. But I can’t hold onto the trend.
I think it depends on the writing style. I tend to write sparsely. I can skimp on scenery (and sometimes exposition) to ‘get to the fun parts’, which tend to be Plot and Character. Some people love my lack of description (as it keeps the book at a fast pace), others poke me into doing more. Some sections don’t work and need to be redone. Others need to be drawn out for clarification. My philosophy has always been, ‘get the bones right first’.
So right now I’m over a third of the way through revisions and my book has gone from being 185 pages to 182. So it’s shorter, but honestly? Length isn’t the point. I just edit with the ‘is this important’ voice in the back of my head.
Good luck!
I know that I’ll be adding about 20k words to the manuscript in revisions, because I write very spare in the beginning.
Revisions are always longer for me, too. When I do a first draft, I often just sketch in things I’m uncertain about, and, in a revision, I have to actually fill that stuff in.
I write everything long hand first and then transcribe it into my laptop. A good deal of the time, even though I’m doing my first big edit during this process, I end up with a longer draft. This is mostly (I think) because while I started transcribing, I was also working on the second book in the series, and I’d think “Oh, I ought to put a little something here, to give a hint of this thing that’s going to happen, or add a bit more about someone who’s going to become a larger player”
The first computerized draft of my ms was a ridiculously dramatic 168k. Now it’s 120k. Because I put in too much, it gave me wiggle room to stream line. Also, by writing on the second book, I was able to look back at the first book and see more clearly what I wanted to portray and how to do it. The more you write the better you get. So now that I’m transcribing the second ms, I’m almost finished the long hand version of the third, and about to start the fourth (which I didn’t even know I needed until I started getting things really laid out and looked at). So it’s a process of balance. Don’t worry if you wind up with more to start, it’ll solidify in the end. And some of what I added, ended up becoming vital, while things I already had were aimless natterings.
It gets longer. Mainly because after I write a novel, for some strange reason, I leave some scenes out. When I am writing the novel, it’s kind of like what William Goldman said, “the good parts.” However, from a readers perspective, I always have to go back and delve deeper with details and explanations.
I find that I’m pretty static — the numbers don’t seem to change that much. In creating my second draft, I cut almost as many words as I added through the deletion and insertion of chapters. So far, it seems that the third draft will end up about the same, or a little longer, than the second.
My stories tend to be too short. The first draft of my novel is 50,000 words. I’m told that’s short for a novel. When I do revisions, they tend to shorten my already short stories. Oh well.