Which would you rather read:
101,000 words, or 83,500 words?
That is an impossible question, I know. I imagine it depends on how you feel about what you are reading, and if you find it interesting and enjoyable.
The numbers I have shown above relate to my Irene Mawer biography. At its height, the word count reached nearly 102, 000 words. I was in two minds about what to do. Part of me wanted to leave the word count as it was, because I knew that every word of it was important and related to Miss Mawer’s life.
However, it was pointed out to me that most biographies (unless they are about mega-stars) are roughly around 80,000 words. I didn’t feel the slightest need to fit in with anyone else’s assumption of how long a book should be, but it did niggle at the back of my mind.
I thought about it and discussed it with friends. My husband wanted me to retain every word, but the more I thought about it, the more I leaned over towards some editing. I started gently, just a few phrases here and there. And then I went for the jugular.
I decided, that if I was going to trim it, then I might as well take the bull by the horns. Out went the life-story of Miss Mawer’s second husband’s first wife. Granted, Violet was a hugely interesting character, but there was nothing to connect her with Miss Mawer.
After that, I had to make the heart-breaking decision to delete a whole chapter. I wanted to keep it because I liked the slogan-ish theme of “A Perfect Catch, A Perfect Match”. The ‘catch’ was Robert Dale (the first husband), while the ‘match’ was Ruby Ginner (an extremely well-matched friend). I took the information from that chapter and put it into the Robert Dale chapter, and the Ruby Ginner chapter (yes, they already had chapters of their own!) I knew without doubt that I had made the right decision.
From then on, I wielded the knife. Suddenly, lots of things started to make sense. When I let go of being ‘precious’ about my hard work, I could suddenly see words and phrases that could be deleted. I realised that if I changed sentence structure a bit, that could also lose a few words, while still saying the same thing. I felt magically light.
I am hugely and massively pleased with my self-editing. I don’t believe I have gone too far, and I think other people will approve.