What to do when Your Word Count is Too Low

Many of my author friends have an editing issue that seems to be fairly common: their word count on completed drafts is usually 120k+.

In contrast, my second drafts are more commonly found in the 45k+ bracket, which means instead of culling scenes or even entire chapters, I have to bulk up my book. Having said that, the last thing I want to do is add words just for the sake of it. They need to have meaning and bring a richer element to the story.

Over the past few years, I have grown tremendously as an author and can often recognise where things are lacking, but I still need the help of beta readers to identify places where I need more. So, here are a few of my readers' complaints and how I fix them.

1.        I can’t visualise this scene.

I am a visual person. I learn most by reading. Having said that, when I write, I often forget that readers can’t see into my brain to picture the people or places I’m talking about. My descriptions are often cursory, with a few salient points, so part of my editing is going deeper into what a person looks like, or the nuances of a place, including sounds and smells. In later drafts, people often comment that my descriptions are great, but they certainly don’t start off that way!

Unlike some authors, I am not an obsessive world-builder. You won’t find pages of prose describing the types of trees growing in the forests, or the various buildings in a city. When I read books with this kind of detail, I often skip forward to get back into the action. (Sorry, Tolkien!) However, the reader does need some context.

If your word count is low, look at how you describe the world you are building. Can you add more detail and vivid descriptions?

2.        I want to see this happen.

I have a tendency to go into “reporting mode” when I write. Usually, it’s because I’m impatient to get to the juicy bits of the story, so I skip through events that have the possibility of adding more drama or tension to the narrative.

For instance, in The Shaking Spear, book 3 of my Norse saga, I had Finn hear some fierce animals, panic, and leave the scene quickly. After comments from one of my readers, I realised this was a great scene to add urgency and peril to my MC. Now he is actually confronted with them – descriptions and all. I also wrote about how he had almost fallen down a pit. Now I relate the scene where he slips and slides to the edge, his heart pounding as he stops inches away from falling to his death.

Show, don’t tell, can be good advice when it comes to adding words to your manuscript. Putting the reader at the centre of the action, instead of hearing about it second-hand, keeps them engaged in the story and wanting to find out what happens next. There are times when telling is fine. Perhaps you need to move forward quickly in time or speed up a process. Reading about an MC’s recovery after an injury could get boring very quickly, for instance, especially if you describe every pain and ache.

If your word count is low, find the places where you relate events. Can your characters experience them firsthand instead?

3.        I wish I knew what they are thinking/feeling.

Another sizeable gap in my writing is interiority. Or rather, the lack of it! This is especially important as I usually write in a close third POV. When you see the world from one person’s viewpoint, it is essential to know about your MC’s emotional, mental, and spiritual state of mind. I get so caught up in my characters as I write them I forget the reader is not privy to the information in my head. They need to be told. (Yes, I know what I said earlier, but body language can only get you so far.)

Unlike guessing at a secondary character’s emotions, you can explore the huge range of thoughts, ideas, and memories that your MC is experiencing. This is also the space to explore motivation, so we know why they are acting in a certain way. Depending on the character, you can have a lot of fun having them do something while running an entirely different viewpoint inside their head, like agreeing with someone when they don’t really want to, or accepting an invitation when they really want to go home and relax in front of the TV.

People are very complex. Interiority can bring out the nuances of a character, which fleshes them out for the reader and makes them more believable. And don’t forget to add quirks and ‘tells’ to your characters. It will make them more memorable.

If your word count is too low, add more depth to your characters by showing the reader what is going on inside their heads.

4.        I know I should feel (insert emotion) here, but I don’t really care.

Sometimes I write a scene which ought to provoke an emotional response in the reader, but it doesn’t happen. If that’s the case, it definitely needs more work. In The Shaking Spear, I kill off a few minor characters. I wasn’t particularly bothered about them, and it showed in my writing, because the reader didn’t care either. And they felt as if they should.

In order to provoke a response, we have to humanise our characters, even the ones that aren’t important. So, the first thing I do is name them. Obviously, we can’t do this to everyone our MC meets, because that would be far too much, but if one is around for a few chapters, or has something significant happen (like dying) they deserve to at least have a name.

Then I give them a quirk or physical characteristic that cements them in the reader’s head. “Ah, he’s the one who stutters/picks his teeth with a knife/ has no sense of direction.” This lets them stand out to the reader.

Show a couple of minor interactions with your MC. Do they get annoyed by their slow speech, grossed out by their weird habit, or bump into them when they turn left instead of right?

Finally, have your MC respond emotionally. It doesn’t have to be sorrow at someone’s death. It might be relief, or even happiness tinged with guilt, depending on the type of person you create.

And depending on your character, they may take up more space in the reader’s head than you originally intended. In The Mage Wars, the story takes place 2,000 years before my trilogy, and I made the religious aspects of Zelannor more prevalent. The Cardinal, Dravid Salong, was only meant to be a figurehead representing the beliefs of the world, but he began to appear more and more, and I realised that he was no longer a side character, but an integral part of Vrainnan’s life. As a result, I wrote more scenes between the two of them that deepened their relationship.

If your word count is too low, see if you can introduce or expand a side character who will add more meaning to the MC and more emotion for the reader.

My books are never going to be weighty tomes. I’m not that kind of writer. But by looking at these four areas, I can add so much more to my stories and enhance the reader’s experience at the same time.

Do you have the same issue? Maybe you can add some ideas to my list. I’d love to hear from you.