When I started editing the first draft my original plan was to double the word count. It was roughly 41,000 words, which is not long enough for a young adult novel. Minimally YA novels should be 55,000 (according to Google anyway). So I added a whole new plot section and decided to simply place it before what I already had.
If I've learned anything while writing it's that original plans mean nothing.
The current word count is roughly 43,000. The reason the count didn't increase that much is because I ended up taking out full sections and rewriting them. As I got towards the end I realized that it was okay that the word count didn't increase the much. One thing that aggravates me when writing papers for school is page minimums. If I've said what I need to say there's no reason I should keep writing for the sake of length. The same thing is true, in my opinion, for fiction writing. It's better to have a tighter story that makes sense than to put in a lot of random and unnecessary scenes for the sake of length.
Coming to terms with the word count also shifted my perspective on audience which, luckily, is the subject of tomorrow's post! For now enjoy this excerpt from the new draft. In this scene Shana and Ben are struggling to become friends.
This
coffee run was starting to be as awkward as dinner last night. He was starting
to wonder how Shana and Kalynn had ended up being friends if Shana didn’t know
how to hold a conversation.
“What are you staring at?”
“Nothing really. I just don’t know what
to say.”
“Well what do you normally talk
about?”
“I actually don’t really know. My
friends and I talk about school, and sports, and family, and just stuff.
Sometimes we’re not saying anything important but we can talk forever.”
“Can we do that?”
“Maybe. I don’t know you that well.
And you’ve spent a lot of your time frowning at me.”
“Ben I am trying to be polite. I haven’t frowned at you all day.”
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