Today’s guest post is by Lisa Fellinger, an author, book coach, and editor.
I have a small confession to make: I’ve never been told I need to cut words from my manuscripts. In fact, I’m the author envious of anyone who needs to do so because I’m the one struggling to get my manuscript up to my target word count. And for a long time, I feared I was the only writer with this issue. So many writing articles and discussions focus on how to cut down an overly wordy novel to fit standard word counts, but I hadn’t seen much advice for how to bulk up a manuscript that fell below those expectations.
But over the years, I’ve found writers with similar struggles. I’m not the only one who starts with a lean first draft that needs to be built up to create a well-rounded story. Neither way of writing is right or wrong—it’s truly about what works for you and your process. The important thing is that you understand your genre’s word count expectations and why those expectations exist and that you put in the work to add or cut words to create a deep story.
While writing lean can sometimes feel like it’s wrong approach, there’s absolutely value in it. Writing a lean first draft allows you to see the main points and events that are most central to the story and work to enhance them, rather than having to uncover those main points underneath a mountain of excess words. I’m often told my writing is clear and easy to follow, which I credit to the fact that I write lean initially and build the story from there.
Still, it’s important that lean writers understand the need to deepen those drafts to become reader ready. Readers crave stories that are rich and immersive; novels that fall far below the standard word counts don’t typically do this.
So, for my fellow lean writers out there, here are opportunities to dig into your story and meet your target word count.
1. Do you have a compelling subplot?
Subplots are one of the best ways to deepen stories and bulk up a lean manuscript. However, don’t just throw in any subplot and call it a day. If you decide to add or enhance a subplot, focus on one that adds depth to the main storyline rather than distracting from it. If you try to include an unrelated subplot only to increase your word count, readers will sense that and lose interest.
The subplot should have a clear connection to the overall story and its own arc. And just as minor characters should be as fleshed out, a subplot should be well-rounded and complete in its own right, even though as much time won’t be spent on it.
2. Are you summarizing the hard scenes?
This is where I often find the most gold in terms of increasing word count, as well as in the novels I work with for developmental editing or book coaching.
It’s especially common in first drafts for writers to summarize the hard scenes—scenes that either feel technically difficult to write or are especially emotional. Since these scenes require so much work to do them justice, it’s tempting to gloss over them by providing a summary of what happened rather than dramatizing the entire scene.
But readers don’t invest in novels to read summaries of what happened to the characters. They want to experience those events alongside them and feel their emotions in real time. Skipping over those difficult scenes robs the reader of that experience and the opportunity for them to feel a strong connection to your story. While summary is sometimes necessary or the best choice for certain scenes, for scenes that are highly emotional and/or central to the overall story, dramatize them so readers can experience the events and emotions along with your characters.
And—bonus points—dramatizing a scene that you initially summarized will absolutely increase your word count.
3. Are you digging into your characters’ thoughts and reactions?
One reason readers often declare “the book was better than the movie” is because books allow for the opportunity to see inside of your characters’ thoughts in a way that movies can’t. So use that to your advantage.
While you don’t want to do this to the extreme—where you’re repeating the same things to the point of boring your readers—you do want to ensure that your readers understand your characters’ reactions to events, especially critical ones. Showing a character’s thoughts can be a good way to bridge the gap between an event and a reaction from a character that doesn’t necessarily make sense. While a reaction might seem odd on the surface, if you can show us the thought process that led them there, then readers will understand it even if another character may not. And digging deep into your characters’ thoughts will build stronger reader connections with your characters.
4. Is your setting clear and detailed enough?
I know I’m guilty of this one in my own writing. It’s easy for me to get so caught up in the dialogue between two characters, or exploring a character’s thoughts and emotions, that I forget to include enough detail about where events take place. But readers need to be able to visualize the story as it unfolds rather than wondering where the characters are.
As you’re reading through your manuscript, ask yourself: Would the reader be able to visualize where these events are taking place by the words on the page? While too much setting description can slow your story’s pacing and bore your reader, this is an area where I often see lean writers being skimpy. It’s an ideal opportunity to strengthen the story while also adding to your word count.
Parting advice
Target word counts exist for a reason. That’s generally the sweet spot where a story will have enough detail and information to create a full, rich story for readers to enjoy without giving way to digressions or slow pacing. While there are always exceptions to word count standards, be honest with yourself about why your story falls outside of them. If you’re below the target like I often am, I hope these questions will help you determine if your story really is complete or if there’s room to add and create an even stronger story.
Lisa Fellinger is a developmental editor and book coach who helps writers finish their novels by building their confidence and writing skills. With a background in mental health counseling, she specializes in helping writers overcome the self-doubt and mental roadblocks that keep them stuck. She’s the author of Write With Confidence: Shatter Self-Limiting Beliefs and Finish Your Book, a mindset guide for writers, and The Serendipity of Catastrophe, a women’s fiction novel about second chances in the wake of loss. Learn more about her work at www.lisafellinger.com.
I needed this today! I’m a lean writer and have a ms that is a bit too thin. Thanks for these great tips!
I’m so glad this was helpful and timely for you, Janet!
I always struggle to get my fiction and nonfiction books up to the word count! My guess is a lot of book editors write like this.
That’s interesting, Andy. I’d be curious to know from more editors if they have this issue as well. I could certainly see how that would happen!
I’m so glad to read this post. I write very sparse drafts and have been struggling thinking it’s “wrong” because so many things say it’s a bad way to write a first draft. A lot of scenes struggle to be 1,000 words. It is only in the past month or so I decided to lean into it and see what happens if I allow shorter writing, but I have days of beating myself up for it. Hopefully, this post will continue to encourage me. In early drafts I just don’t see setting or description. I have a hard enough time thinking of things to have them say.
Tonya, this is exactly what inspired me to write this post. I worried I was doing this whole first draft thing “wrong” for a long time too because everything I seemed to see was about how to cut words, and I certainly never had that problem! I’ve come to terms with this by recognizing that, for me, I just can’t do it all in one draft. The first draft is for me to get the main tenets of the story in place. Then I go through again and flesh out the conflict, then another pass will be for specifically paying attention to setting, etc. Each draft increases my word count a bit at a time, and I’ve learned to just put my faith in the process that’s worked for me before. I hope this post will be helpful for you and help you recognize you’re not alone, and you’re certainly not doing it wrong!
Thank you so much for this! Almost all revising advice seems to be about how to pare down manuscripts that are too long, while I am definitely in the opposite camp. It’s good to feel less alone while also getting some great practical tips.
Glad you found this useful, Lori! I struggled years ago to find much advice on how to add words to manuscripts as well, and I felt very alone until I finally connected with some other writers who shared they also tended to write lean drafts. I hope these tips are helpful for you!
Thank you for this. This provides a great hack for writing screenplays aside from novels.
I write my scenes intending to convey motives, thoughts, and emotions in a “show not tell” style. I sometimes get distracted by the minutia of the scene’s aesthetics and framing that I lose track of how I want my characters to express their inner dialogues and motivations. After reading this, I realize I can imagine (or better still, write) how I’d see the scene as if in a novel.
Again, thank you.
I’m so glad you found this helpful, Ruben!
Thanks for this Lisa! You have described my writing process to a ‘T’! I think it’s because I wrote my first novel during NaNoWriMo so now my first draft target is 50,000 words and I celebrate when I hit at least that as I type ‘the end’. I feel that getting down the bones first is what works for me. Then I go back and add more detail. Once I can’t see my way forward, that’s when I bring my editor in and she helps identify where plot or character are a bit thin. I’m in the midst of that right now. Write on!
Yes, NaNo can be so deceiving for new writers since there’s some mixed messaging in saying the goal is to write a novel in a month by writing 50,000 words, which is well below the target word count for most genres. But it does work well for us lean writers! Best of luck with your revisions!
Lisa, this is so helpful! Thank you. I write lean and my critique group often says “We need to see more.”
Your tips nail it. I esp. like the “thought bridge” between a character’s unexpected actions and their reasoning behind them. My stories often deal with misunderstandings between characters where one thinks s/he is totally justified in certain actions yet another character is horrified by those actions and doesn’t understand the reasoning behind them.
Bookmarking this! Thanks, Lisa!
Debbie, I love the term “thought bridge” to describe this technique. I always tell my clients that your characters can do anything so long as readers can understand their reasoning even if the other characters may not.
Thanks for the article, Lisa. This was super helpful! I too, am a lean writer, I never really thought about it that way. I think for me, so much of the story is in my head— I don’t realize what I haven’t actually put down on paper, which is usually why I send even my early early drafts to critique partners! I often need someone else to tell me the parts that are missing and to expand upon! But I really like your list of questions. Something concrete for me to go through when analyzing my novels.
Critique partners can be so helpful in identifying places to add in lean manuscripts—and having some that you trust is such a great asset for a writer!
I empathise with you for so much being in your head that you don’t realise what you’ve not actually written. I’m like that, too.
I’m not the only one with a slim novel?! I’ve developed it from what I was told was a novella, and right now, at least, the length seems right. Of course I could open up a few scenes, but my instinct says, “Don’t”!
Haha, this was exactly my thought as well when I first met another writer who wrote lean—right along with “phew, I wasn’t doing this wrong!” There will always be more we *could* add, but it’s important to trust your instincts on that. There’s a fine line between adding depth to the story and adding fluff. My debut novel fell around 73,000 words, which is still on the low end for a women’s fiction novel, but the length felt right to me, so I didn’t force it just to pad the word count. Best of luck with your novel!
I enjoyed this article. The suggestions about word count were helpful reminders. The parting advice was particularly helpful. Being honest about your word count was meaningful.