Help! First draft came up short on word count.

[sandrac]

Hi there.

Here's my dilemma. I am aiming for a 70 000 word novel. My first draft came up short due to planned scenes I never even wrote getting cut. What should have happened in them happened in other scenes instead. They were not worthy of an entire scene/chapter. I am just shy of
60 000 words.

My writing is very tight. I followed the HTTS system and the plotting system worked so well for me that I don't think there will be large cuts. Every scene is necessary, and was written to a scene card and includes pov, antag need, protag need, twist, what changes and why it's impotant etc etc.My scenes are full of dialogue and action. One thing the first draft is lacking is descriptive scenes, setting etc, and depth of emotion. I wanted to get the bare bones of the story down and planned to add those in during the revision process. So I know a lot more will be added.

My question is do I try to go back now and add more words before I even start lesson one, or should I trust that HTRYN will prompt me to add and when I'm done I will have met my 70 000+ word goal? Am I cheating by starting HTRYN short of my optimal goal? I will be honest and say once the end was in sight I was eager to finish and excited to start the next stage. Maybe I was rushing on purpose? (I purchased the revision course when I still had 3 chapters to write. I couldn't help myself, Holly's style works so well for me and I wanted to have the lessons coming before I needed them in case I was so talented I finished each one before a week was up. lol And so I could read through them first. Imagine my surprise when I got to the part in lesson one that said STOP READING NOW! LOL And, yes, I stopped.)

Any advice/thoughts are gratefully received.

Many thanks
Sandra

[marti-v]

Holly's strategy for revision is to analyze, dissect, and mark up before making any changes. This has two advantages: We learn as we go through the lessons, which may affect the specifics of how we want to write the changes, and we can make all the changes at once instead of piecemeal. She's pretty adamant about not touching our words with a pen -- not even to correct "teh" to "the." My advice: Follow the leader! She knows what she's doing.

[Cat-Gerlach]

My first drafts are ALWAYS shorter than planned (usually 15 to 20K) because I write lean on description, too. After revision, I ALWAYS am right on target. With my first HtTS novel I ended up at exactly 70.000 words (including the title). That was unplanned but fun. So, don't worry, be happy -sorry, I meant- revise!

[sandrac]

Thanks to both of you I'm feeling a lot better about this. I am soooooo excited to get started. To me, the hard part is done, now I get to play My chiropractor is happy to hear I won't be spending the day behing my desktop for a while. I told her a different set of aches will come along while I'm sitting in the backyard with my feet up and binders surrounding me.

[jollygreen23]

I went from 49k to about 61k with my book, once it got through HTRYN. And I didn't even use Holly's techniques for beefing up your plot/subplots. (Is that lesson 11?)

[sandrac]

Thanks Emily.

I have promised myself I would give it a week to settle, then I will dig in. I keep reading that we should distance ourselves from our work before we start revisions. Should I wait longer?

How much time did each of you take between ending the first draft and starting the revision?

[jollygreen23]

A week should be fine. I like to take two. Just remember that lesson 1 has you read through the entire ms. And then lesson 2 has you read it again. So if you're sick of looking at it, it may be a good idea to take off a longer period of time.

[Texanne]

My first drafts are always talking heads in space. I can see the setting and actions so clearly that it seems, as I'm writing, to be ham-fisted to describe things--not to mention the current fashion of leaving most of that to the reader's own imagination--so I back off. This means that the descriptions and choreography must be added in during revision. Emotion--I write fairly close third, so the emotion is there, often needs to be pruned.

All this is to say, leave it alone till you start HTRYN. There are ways to add to the word count that don't include heavy cataloging of wardrobe, furnishings and landscaping. Much better ways, and Holly gives you those ways in one of the later lessons. It's cool. TX