As I near the end of my work on the third revision of Shepherds of Lost Things I find myself constantly thinking about how few words are probably left to add to this ~79,585 word book. Yet, they remain some of the most important words that will be put down on the page.
My early drafts tend to be very “they went to a place, they said this, they saw that, they did this, they left.” My initial push is to get the plot, character and story elements out onto the page. The “fluff” as my wife has dubbed it, comes later, far more slowly.
What is “the fluff?” All the little details that make a world come to life. It’s the description of living room furniture that helps place the family that lives there as either well to do or poor. It’s the hand gesture that gives depth to a character’s intensions. It’s the color of someone’s hair that imparts the decades of their experiences.
Beyond these details there’s also the final drawing of subtle plot and character arcs that otherwise would dangle just beyond notice. Are the breadcrumbs frequent and large enough to be seen by readers? Is the dialog between two people flirty? Dismissive? Confrontational? You’d be surprised how a few words can radically change how two characters appear to be interacting.
These final words that are added or removed also have a huge impact on the larger world I’m setting up in the Shepherds universe. I plan to make this a trilogy and there’s a constant balance between giving the reader enough to make them interested, while still saving some secrets and surprises for later books. Too much too soon and it’s information overload. Too little and people might walk away thinking there’s nothing exciting awaiting them in the chapters ahead.
So here I am still chipping away at fixing grammar mistakes, cleaning up plot-holes created by excised text, and forever shoveling in the right amount of “fluff” in between the plot, character and story elements that hopefully I’ve balanced well enough to keep readers hooked until the final twist of the blade.
Ross Weisfish 