A.J. Flowers

Lately my novel has given me plenty of cause for concern, especially ever since I neared the midpoint. It was about that time I realized I was writing a long first draft, especially a long first half, and thus it would either require rearranging or significant cutting.

I don’t like cutting, but I would rather have a novel people want to read than a bunch of things that don’t belong in the story or a flabby middle. But, as I’ve mentioned before, when I write, I tend to write long. I tend to meander through my scene until I get my feet under me and then I can narrow down the focus in later drafts.

Right now I have 114,535 words in this second draft of Spurn the Moon. This creates a bit of a problem, as I’m just now nearing my climactic scene, which should occur around the 90K mark for a 100K word novel…