Wordy Revisions

I’ve often commented to authors who are doing rewrites that they’re going the wrong way. In general, as an editor, I was hoping for some reduction in the word count while revising.

I didn’t realize the tendency to increase the number of words is a scientifically demonstrable fact. There has been a study. And it goes beyond writing

“When asked to improve a travel itinerary, only 28 percent of the participants did so by eliminating destinations. Essay improvements led to an increase in word counts in all but 17 percent of the cases. People just didn’t tend to take things away in a huge range of contexts.”

Ars Technica, When asked to fix something, we don’t even think of removing parts (emphasis mine)

So while it would seem that you’re in good lots of company, learn to buck the trend, go against the flow, be different, don’t be redundant, etc, etc!

Featured image by Free-Photos from Pixabay