Cutting 10,000 Words

Last night I called to talk to you. Earlier in the week I emailed to ask what I should do with the book now that I've finished reading your novel. But in the phone call, you asked if I had started reading it yet.

You sounded excited. Like here might be one person who was going to tell you she loved it. All week, I had been expecting you to sound annoyed.

So, I said I finished it. You said you must not have gotten that email.

"Did you enjoy the part with preparing for the wedding?"

I haven't discussed that part on this site yet, but you were referring to the subplot of a wedding that Angela is planning for a couple who fights whenever they are in her office. Enjoy? "Not really," I said.

"You're not giving me much hope here for reaching a younger audience," you said.

Ignoring how you didn't asked why I didn't enjoy that part (or the rest of the novel), I instead reminded you that I'm not really the "younger" audience anymore. I'm almost the same age as your main characters and hitting the tail end of the 18-35 demographic. But you don't want to think you're "Mama" now and not "Angela" or "Bev," so you blew off my comment.

"I'm working on cutting 10,000 words," you said. "I'm hoping this gives me a better chance with agents. Your aunt said it was too long. That there's too much dialogue. It reads like a screenplay. And that Bev doesn't sound tired enough."

You rambled. I couldn't even ask which aunt you were talking about. When you stopped to take a breath, I went with the more important question: "What are you sending to agents? The description from the back?"

"A blurb from the back, yeah. My synopsis."

I groaned. Audibly.

"Anything else new?" you asked. You were done talking about your novel. It's obviously not meant for me because I am neither going through a divorce or caring for an elderly parent. Otherwise I would relish it, as the back of your book says.

So now what? Do I let it go? Do I tell you that you really have no hope with the novel in the condition it's currently in? That you're wasting all your time and money? That if you just add the word "tired" a dozen times, it will make Bev only more unlikeable?

Cutting 10,000 words is not the solution. Starting over, picking one main character, and actually dealing with the problems is the way to go.