I broke under 120,000 words night. Supposedly, that’s the milestone maximum length that typically gets published. The first finished draft hit 200,000 words last year. And this year I’ve been slowly chopping down the word count while cleaning up and clearing out a lot. So, so, so many errors…
I wonder how many writers hate finding errors, or if they find them as much as I do. Grammar, spelling, repeated phrases. After three drafts I’m finding more and more. Editing a novel is like Hoarders, trying to justify every phrase when you know you need to throw it away.
“But it’s brilliant!” - No, it’s redundant and distracting.
“But it’s a theoretical physics!” - No, its fake-technical sciencey bullshit. It’s sci-fi. Create rules but let the audience fill in the details too.
“But it’s pretty.” - No it’s not.
“Maybe someone will like it as a quote.” - You’re not George fucking RR Martin.
“It’s eloquent.” - I don’t think that word means what you think it means.
The real challenge: finding readers willing to review this and give proper feedback once this (last?) draft is done.