See, now this was one of the reasons I friended your journal, for the pure sake of learning things about the business I wouldn't have even KNOWN to ask about.
Personally, I think it's horrible that people are being asked to cut their work, and yet by the same token some writers (not necessarily BFFs) could definitely learn something from having to sit down and really evaluate what every chapter is contributing to the overall story (like Stephen King, who has a bad tendency to ramble when he doesn't need to). I guess that's where learning and refining the art of the short story comes in handy: you learn how to make every word count (figuratively) and you can still make a beautiful story.
However, I can't see how that really would help fantasy writers. You're right about the preconception of thinner novels and about bigger novels being broken up: it's reminescent of young adult books (series, no less), and while there ARE readers in the fantasy genre who are, well, young adults and/or have that mindset, there are just as many, if not more readers who are adults and want adult fiction. So, the idea of cuts is a scary one. I can think of my own novel I'm working on, how it divides, and I shudder to think of where publishers you're speaking of would cut it, and it scares me to think that I'd be overlooked on the shelf just because my book was thinner than others. And then I think about how some writers are such fast reads, and that longer books for such writers feels like a shorter book for writers who are dense and more difficult to wade through. The cuts are not a great idea.
Do you know (or have any idea) what publishers AREN'T making cuts? Granted, it's something I'll also keep an eye out on my own, but hearing from someone who's both in the industry and works in books would be lovely.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-09-10 04:20 am (UTC)Personally, I think it's horrible that people are being asked to cut their work, and yet by the same token some writers (not necessarily BFFs) could definitely learn something from having to sit down and really evaluate what every chapter is contributing to the overall story (like Stephen King, who has a bad tendency to ramble when he doesn't need to). I guess that's where learning and refining the art of the short story comes in handy: you learn how to make every word count (figuratively) and you can still make a beautiful story.
However, I can't see how that really would help fantasy writers. You're right about the preconception of thinner novels and about bigger novels being broken up: it's reminescent of young adult books (series, no less), and while there ARE readers in the fantasy genre who are, well, young adults and/or have that mindset, there are just as many, if not more readers who are adults and want adult fiction. So, the idea of cuts is a scary one. I can think of my own novel I'm working on, how it divides, and I shudder to think of where publishers you're speaking of would cut it, and it scares me to think that I'd be overlooked on the shelf just because my book was thinner than others. And then I think about how some writers are such fast reads, and that longer books for such writers feels like a shorter book for writers who are dense and more difficult to wade through. The cuts are not a great idea.
Do you know (or have any idea) what publishers AREN'T making cuts? Granted, it's something I'll also keep an eye out on my own, but hearing from someone who's both in the industry and works in books would be lovely.