Cutting

I've talked about it before, but today it's really on my mind. I'm cutting content from some of the middle chapters. Nothing that changes the story, but there is more content than I think a publisher would care for out of a debut author. The hard part is... I'm looking over notes, I'm reading beta reviews, and I'm looking at the material. I can't figure out what to cut!

This isn't a matter of "Oh, everything I write is golden, I can't cut any of it." I'm just not certain what needs to go. I'm definitely killing my darlings, and I knew I would have to. I'm nearly at the point where I may need to kill entire chapters and figure out a shorter way to relate the information.

I'm kind of tempted right now to try sending out my manuscript as is and see what feedback I get from agents. It's structurally sound right now. I'm not worried about coming off as amateurish, just worried that my word count will dissuade them from publishing me. 

So that's where I am. Staring at the same blocks of text, wondering whether I need this paragraph or not. Wondering if I can relate all the information in a shorter way. Le sigh. Well, this is what I signed up for, so no complaints from this end. I'll figure it out one way or the other. 

On a separate note, working with Smash Fiction yesterday was awesome. Had tons of fun and hope I can do it again someday. (@SmashFicPodcast)

Also... NaNoWriMo anyone?

DFTBA