val_wilson•4d agoMost Upvoted

Pro tip: That published author friend told me to delete my first three chapters

I was workshopping a fantasy novel at a local writer's group in Portland and this lady who's published three books told me my first three chapters were just backstory. She said to start at chapter four where the dragon actually shows up. I deleted them over a weekend and suddenly my word count dropped by 8,000 words but the story finally had a pulse. Anyone else ever had to chop a huge chunk of their opening to make it work?

2 comments

2 Comments

umamurphy4d ago

Had to cut 12k words from my sci-fi opener once. My beta readers kept falling asleep before the spaceship blew up. Best edit I ever made, that chapter is still sitting in a folder somewhere collecting dust.

cameron_palmer4d ago

That thing about the chapter sitting in a folder is probably more common than people admit. Idk about you but I've got a whole graveyard of scenes I thought were great until I read them again six months later. Maybe it's just me but those deleted chunks usually had some good lines in them, just not enough to carry the whole thing forward. The real trick is not getting attached to your own writing, which is harder than it sounds. Cutting 12k words sounds brutal but honestly it probably saved the whole story from dragging.