Guest Author Paul Welch: A Journey Through Massive Edits

Hi, friends!

Janice Hardy asked me to be a guest blogger on her website a while ago, and she just let me know that the blog went live today. I thought I’d share it here, as it chronicles a little bit about my journey through massive edits.

An interesting thing to note:

Despite reducing my novel from 198,000 words down to 142,000 words (at the time of the guest blog) and its subsequent reduction to 140,000, a literary agent just expressed interest in the premise of the story but would not request a read until it was 120,000 words, or, more preferably, 110,000 words. “140,000 words is far too long for a debut novel.”

So I am faced with an interesting dilemma. The NY literary agent mentioned in the blog is still reading my partial request, so I think I will wait until I hear from him before moving forward, but I am a strong believer in eliminating obstacles. I understand that my novel is long – but it isn’t without precedence.

I want to be published, so I supppose – if and when the time comes – I will just have to see whether the story can be reduced and simplified even further.

But enough of that – on to the blog!

Guest Author Paul Welch: A Journey Through Massive Edits in Ten Easy Steps.

“I’m excited about today’s post. A few months ago, Paul Welch wrote me to say thanks for some of my revision posts. He had a huge novel to cut down and my advice helped a lot (which totally made my day). We got to chatting and he told me his amazing story and what he did to turn a massive novel into something he could submit. I was so inspired by his tale, I asked him to guest post and share it with you guys.”

Read the rest of the article at Janice Hardy’s website.