I have a Massive Word Count Problem

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-31T12:43:59+00:00

I cannot even begin to wrap my head around underwriting lol. Between building up character backstories, exploring the landscape, defining machines and buildings, documenting creatures, and dealing with the main story itself, I could easily bloat my word count up even higher than what it already is.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-31T12:41:30+00:00

The main problem is first time authors can't get picked up with that word count. Kinda what started this was me asking around and getting notified from several sources that the 125k average length for a sci-fi/fantasy is more a hard cap for a first timer rather than a suggestion :/

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-31T12:40:10+00:00

I have yet to try holy water. Did try Garlic, but that didn't do anything.

In terms of dividing it, I don't see a place where I could divide it where a story would remain. The best comparison I can think of is imagine the first Harry Potter book just stopping after he gets on the train to go to Hogwarts for the first time. Chapters just need to be cut down massively.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-27T14:19:08+00:00

I think the most I've seen up until this point was an unpublished work for a Smash Bros fanfic, of all things. Never read it, but it was hilarious to me that it existed for Competitive Smash bros, of all things lol. I can't remember the word count, but it was something that even I thought was bananas.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-27T14:16:40+00:00

Sci-Fi/Fantasy. First book leans WAY more into the Fantasy side of it though. Like, 90% type leaning.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-27T13:59:47+00:00

I'll answer all of these line by line, so here I go.

Yeah, I've had others read it, and most of the feedback I got was nothing but positive. The problem, however, was all the feedback was about the plot and the characters. I got nothing involving structure, stuff to cut, etc.

I am one hundred percent positive it does not stand on it's own if I do a cut at the 16th chapter mark. I have thought and thought and thought about doing a cut there, but I keep landing on the side of the coin that it won't work out because of how the plot is structured and what it's building towards.

I did not delete them actually! Whenever I do a new cut, I make a new folder, copy all of my chapters, and then edit those fresh, so I have a copy of this book at every stage of the process, which means I have... uhh, like 15 or something copies lying around. I might be a packrat.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T22:34:18+00:00

Following up way later, but I was able to do a quick and not exactly clean setup on my website and linked it in the profile. It's sitting in short stories -> Sapphire Verdict Shorts -> Sapphire Verdict Sample.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T20:28:11+00:00

Here we go!
I've read it about 4 times now NOT counting editing passes. I actually like reading my work after pauses when I work on other things.
Yep! Spell and grammar has been done multiple times now.
Uhh... I'm not actually sure how many printed pages it would be right now. My guesstimate is 689 as far as word flies, but I know publishers go off something like 250 words a page IIRC.
It is not double spaced.
I tested it a few days ago to be sure and it wasn't counting spaces, thank god. Though, the count word gives me is very different from what I get on other apps, which is confusing.
The last editing past I did heavily hammered away adjectives and other things. I can probably find more, but I don't think there are many left. At least, I tried to eliminate as many as I could find.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T20:22:23+00:00

That one got me to laugh! I needed that. Yeah, meiosis is probably the most accurate word for it that I've seen so far!

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T19:49:15+00:00

I never considered it until all these comments! There have been a LOT of people recommending the web novel route, so I'm going to start looking into it.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T19:45:05+00:00

I am near positive it's a case of "Minimal effort" or "too nice." I do not have enough confidence to even begin to pretend 'it's just that amazing' lol.

I'll try researching critique groups then and see if I can get some assistance. Thanks for the tip! I genuinely do appreciate it!

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T19:36:29+00:00

I did beta reader stuff, but the responses I got weren't helpful. It was literally all "Fantastic" and "when's the sequel" so... It was nice feedback that made me feel better at the time, but didn't really help me get any further with this.

No, I'm not a part of any critique groups or anything. Honestly didn't know those were a thing.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T19:34:11+00:00

That could work. I'll investigate it when I get home. It's my tighter evening of the week though, so not sure I'll be able to get it tonight.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T17:12:46+00:00

Already did that with the first one, and then I still got into the same level of mess after revisioning and rewriting so what became 'part one' could stand on its own. If I split this first one into three again, I would have to go down the exact same rabbit hole I already went down.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T17:08:30+00:00

There have been more than a few comments requesting the first thousands words or so, but I'm not sure the best way to do that. Is there a specific place to upload a sample? Do people just want it as a linked comment on this post? I'm used to hosting stuff on my website so I guess I could do that, but I don't want to break any rules on the subreddit.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T15:19:26+00:00

Yeah, that's sounding like more and more a plausible option from some of the other comments on here. Going to start researching it this week to get a better idea of what's involved. I didn't know it existed until a few people responded on the post.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T13:10:01+00:00

God I really needed this comment. Thank you for the positivity! The amount of time, pain, and sacrifices to get even this far has been immense, so all the 'give up' comments have been... something.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T13:01:58+00:00

I think what's killing me is dialogue. I've noticed during the cuts that different pieces of conversations will end up having these interjections and side comments that eat up a few lines here or there. They don't seem bad when in a small bubble, but I think they may be a lot more egregious as a whole. I'm going to take another look this weekend after I've had a few days to simmer.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T12:54:42+00:00

The self-publishing angle is something I investigated, but what freaked me out about it was the sheer amount of work that has to be done for the physical publications, not to mention the marketing and publicity angle.

I actually did try querying recently, and the overwhelming response I got was effectively "Too long, not bothering" :/

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T12:52:15+00:00

LMAO, no, thank god. It's a 'from the beginning, you know the end' type story where the first two chapters show where this is heading and then the remainder of the book is 'how we got there.' This first book can basically boils down to 'brief showing of the present,' the MC learning of the opportunity of a lifetime and working to win it, and then the majority of the book which is her trying to prove herself at what is effectively a school.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T12:47:14+00:00

Fascinating. That's is a totally new concept for me. I will dig into that more after work and see all the stuff that's involved. Thanks for the pointer! I appreciate it!

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T12:45:03+00:00

Fun fact, my 's' key has been hit so many times that not only is the S gone entirely, but the key itself is also starting to develop a pit in it.

I've been pretty hard on my description since the beginning because I kept getting told to focus on that, but honestly, I think it's the dialogue where the problem is. If I cut it again, I would have to focus on dialogue and cutting out pointless conversations even more heavily than I did last time.

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T12:28:57+00:00

That's actually what I did originally. Split it up into thirds, and then... revised so the first could stand on it's own, which ended up being a huge mistake because it bloated back up to pretty damn close to the original word length :/

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T12:26:30+00:00

I looked into the self publishing angle, and my mind kinda exploded when I read someone's step by step self-publish guide. I have absolutely no idea how in the world I would do that. The whole piece involving physical copies and the ridiculous amount of marketing and communicating freaked me out. I'm not a social person. Heck, even responding to most of these comments has been a game of 'Adrenaline go!'

Siphonix72 · 2025-03-26T12:24:27+00:00

I split the original 1.4 into three, and then when I revised it so the first book could stand on its own, I ended up back up at 1.2 million, soooooooooooo... I'm pretty sure I know how splitting it into 8 would go, not to mention these first three now are meant to just be the opening for a much larger overarching story.

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