In a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog, Lisa Fellinger suggests four questions you can ask to strengthen a lean manuscript. While many writers are told to cut words from a fat manuscript, there’s very little advice on beefing up a novel with a low word count. “While writing lean can sometimes feel like it’s wrong approach, there’s absolutely value in it,” Fellinger says. “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.”
Still, a novel is a novel and this requires some meat on the bones. “Readers crave stories that are rich and immersive; novels that fall far below the standard word counts don’t typically do this,” Fellinger notes.
If you have a short manuscript, Fellinger suggests asking these questions:
- Do you have a compelling subplot? “Subplots are one of the best ways to deepen stories and bulk up a lean manuscript,” Fellinger notes. “If you decide to add or enhance a subplot, focus on one that adds depth to the main storyline rather than distracting from it.”
- Are you summarizing the hard scenes? “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,” Fellinger writes. “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.”
- Are you digging into your characters’ thoughts and reactions? Fiction allows the reader to get into a character’s head, in a way that movies cannot. Are you taking advantage of that? “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,” Fellinger says. “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.”
- Is your setting clear and detailed enough? “Readers need to be able to visualize the story as it unfolds rather than wondering where the characters are,” Fellinger notes. “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?”
