Word Count

Becca C. said:

A word of advice on whittling down even further:

Do it sentence by sentence. Without fail, every time I take a pass at editing a MS, I can shave off at least a couple thousand unnecessary words by really, really scrutinizing each word.

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And remember: cutting down your word count doesn't mean slicing extra words out of your sentences, it also means deleting entire scenes if they're not working hard enough for you. This is a step that many writers are reluctant to take, but you have to be ruthless: if it's not working, cut it out.

Here's your link, JDM. (See the earth with the linked chain just above where you type in quick reply? Select your text, hit that earth, then paste the URL.)

Old Hack said:

And remember: cutting down your word count doesn't mean slicing extra words out of your sentences, it also means deleting entire scenes if they're not working hard enough for you. This is a step that many writers are reluctant to take, but you have to be ruthless: if it's not working, cut it out.

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I once cut 12 chapters.

They were well-written (imo), and had lots of interesting stuff going on (imo), but they didn't belong in that particular book. Cutting them put the focus of the plot on the important arcs and storylines.

My opinion, worth every penny you're paying for it:

I think it's unlikely that the word count alone is netting you non-responses. Sure, it probably is for some agents -- I'm sure there are a few that have strict rules, "NOTHING OVER 120,000, NO THANK YOU!" But authors have debuted with long novels, especially fantasy novels -- look at Sanderson and Rothfuss. So it's possible.

If your query and first few chapters are mindblowing, an agent will look past the word count. And in your case, your word count isn't even ridiculously long for fantasy. I'd spend time making sure your query pops (looking at your post in SYW, it needs some work), and your first few chapters are incredibly engaging. Also, make sure both are terse -- it'll show the agent that those 148,000 words are truly necessary, not just blathering.

'Course, this might be wishful thinking on my part, since I'm in the same boat as you. But most of the experiences of writers in my group has been that agents are likely to say "Cut and resubmit" rather than "No" if it's only your length that's giving them issues.