If you’re looking for how to reduce word count in your writing, I’ve got some help for you. Often, writers (including me) are left struggling to meet their minimum word count. But, I also know well the struggle of writing too dang much. Maybe your latest blog post is a wee bit too verbose, or your fantasy WIP is 100K too much for publishers’ specifications. In any case, I’ve got tips for cutting back crazy word counts. Use these tactics and you’ll get your writing trimmed back and, better yet, sounding great!

They say less is more, and it’s true that fewer words read better than too many. Conciseness is a great quality to have in your writing. You get your point across faster and, at the same time, clearer. So take a look at your writing and cut, cut, cut!

Cut Redundancy

When you need to be concise, there’s no room for redundancy. You have to get rid of any writing that repeats itself.

Look for unnecessary words. Sometimes, it’s easy to use too many adjectives to describe one thing. Don’t write “The cave was vast, huge, deep, and cavernous.” Just write “The cave was huge.” One powerful adjective can do as good a job as many weak ones. Cap your word count by cutting back on extra adjectives.

Redundancy is also the reason so many writers hate adverbs. Adverbs are often prone to redundancy. For example, you never need to write “He shouted loudly.” Shouting already implies loudness. Only use adverbs that add meaning for readers. If he “shouted weakly” or “shouted menacingly,” then that’s an adverb that readers need to hear.

Nouns and verbs can get redundant, too, so edit at every word you can. There’s no need to write “My brother, sister, father, and mother drove into town” when you could write “My family drove into town.” Compound and cut nouns wherever you can. It’s the same for verbs. Skip writing “I sobbed and cried” and simply write “I cried.” Choose words carefully so you can send the same message with fewer words.

Keep an eye for whole passages which are redundant you can cut. Any time two or more sections of your writing cover the same information, chop them. Keep one and get rid of all the others. Eliminate all the redundant chapters, sections, subheadings, or sentences you can. Just cut all the unnecessary extra writing possible. Y’know, just like I should have cut the last several sentences of this paragraph.

Avoid Excessive Language

Filler words. Purple prose. Excessive details. All these things drive up your word count and drag down your quality. Edit them out. That’s one easy way how to reduce your word count.

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

Slash Filler Words

There are many common filler words you can drop. Intensifiers like “very” or “so” can be gotten rid of without hurting your sentences. The descriptor should stand alone, or you can replace it with a more powerful one. Instead of writing “very hungry,” write simply “hungry,” or better yet, “famished.” Intensifiers aren’t necessary, so dump them.

There’s another word “that” you can cut. “That” is an extremely common filler word that isn’t always necessary. Get rid of it when you can. You could write “she learned that the school closed last year,” or you could make it simpler and write “she learned the school closed last year.”

Be careful when cutting “that” to ensure your statement still makes sense. Some sentences don’t need “that,” but make more sense with it. For example, the sentence “I could tell her time had run out.” Sounds simple, right? But what’s it trying to say? Is it “I could tell her that time had run out” or “I could tell that her time had run out”? Those two sentences have pretty different implications a reader needs to figure out. The context might make that kind of statement clear, but it might not. Make sure your sentence still makes logical and grammatical sense before you cut “that” out of the equation.

Correct Purple Prose

Finally, you better ditch the purple prose and over-the-top flowery language. I’m not saying heavy, verbose writing is never a good thing—I love some maximalist writing styles. But, most of the time, less is more.

Purple prose is the mistake that occurs when writers make their writing too detailed, too rich, and too “literary.” Too many poetic metaphors and gripping similes and too much lush description and little details will drive readers away instead of drawing them in. Rather than guiding readers into vast and crooked gardens of the mind, replete with nuance and connotations, imbued with fancy and fantasy—maybe just immerse them in a story. With only a few purple spots included.

Get Rid of Excessive Details

And along with purple prose, you need to cut the excessive details. Again, less is more.

In fiction writing, this means avoiding over-narration. You don’t want to describe every little action a character takes. You don’t want to describe everything a POV character sees. Here are a few tips:

• Don’t use too many adjectives and adverbs.
• Don’t include too much body language, like each twitch of an eyebrow or tap of a finger.
• Don’t let descriptions of settings get too long.
• Don’t include all the little actions that comprise a larger one (Don’t say “she undid the lock, turned the knob, and pulled the door open” when you can simply say “she opened the door”).
• Don’t narrate actions that don’t contribute to the story. Leave out unimportant events like the protagonist eating breakfast before their adventure.

Too many details bog down your writing. Keep your text light and readable by only including the details you need.

Remove Helping Verbs

Finally, there’s one more way to cut word count and strengthen your writing. Edit out any helping verbs throughout your sentences.

Verbs like “am,” “is,” “are,” “was,” “were,” “be,” “been,” “being,” “do,” “does,” “did,” “have,” “has,” and “had” often go alongside other verbs (hence they are “helping”). But they usually aren’t necessary unless they are a standalone verb. Helping verbs can be cut and leave your meaning intact. In fact, it usually makes your sentences stronger.

Instead of writing “I was running all the way,” write “I ran all the way.” Instead of “they do singing and dancing,” you can write “they sing and dance.”

Now, occasionally, a helping verb brings the kind of help you need. They can change the meaning of a sentence in a way you need sometimes. For example, “I was running when the storm hit” is not the same as “I ran when the storm hit.” So keep an eye out as you cut useless helping verbs because a few might be pulling their weight.

Overall, cutting helping verbs brings down your word count and pulls double duty by making your sentences clearer and stronger.

So now you know how to reduce your word count. Get rid of redundancy, cut out all that excessive language, and edit away those helping verbs.

Once you do all that, your story will shine. Your essays will thank you. Your writing will be shorter, clearer, and better. Now, I don’t take any of these tips to the extreme, but I always like to keep them handy for a rambling bit of writing. You should also practice implementing them in your writing and watch the results.

Got any more tips for how to reduce word count you want to share? Have some thoughts on these tips? Let me know in the comments below!

Mint Miller

Mint is a writer and digital marketing pro who lives in coastal Virginia with her family and one lovable pitbull. Her passions include helping people and businesses display their best side through the power of communication, buying her dog costumes he doesn’t want to wear, and talking all day about Batman.