7 steps to cutting a story that's too long

Some stories take on a life of their own and before you know it, a piece that was supposed to be 750 words has grown to 1,000.

Unfortunately, editors are pretty adamant about sticking to assigned word counts. So some trimming is in order. It may be tempting to turn in a too-long article and let your editor deal with the cuts. But would you rather have someone else decide what stays and what goes? I didn’t think so.

The best option is to judiciously pare your own copy before turning it in. Here are my favorite ways to trim a story that’s gotten too long for its own good:

1.  Go through the entire piece paragraph by paragraph. Look for repeats or extraneous words, including adjectives or adverbs that could be sliced without altering the context of a sentence or phrase. A former newspaper assistant business section editor showed me this a long time ago, and I still use it on almost every story I write. Thanks Mike Hewitt!

2. Re-examine every quote. Does the quote advance the story or merely repeat information you’d already included in the text? If it’s the latter, tighten it up or lose it altogether. Quotations are like condiments, a little goes a long way. A piece of 300 to 500 words can get by with one or two and they don’t even have to be that long.

3. Make sure the size of the introduction fits the overall word count of the story. You wouldn’t spend 350 words of a 750 word piece on the lead and nut graph, just as you wouldn’t limit the lead of a 2,500 word feature to a couple of lines. A 500-word Web piece needs a snappy lead that pulls the reader in the story right away.

4. Summarize. Instead of whole paragraphs, use bullets, lists or other space saving devices to pack more punch into your prose without adding to the length.

5. Use sidebars. Did you go off on a tangent somewhere in the middle of the piece? If so, could you move the information into a sidebar? Ask your editor. Sometimes he’ll need an additional visual element for a page anyway and a short sidebar could be just the ticket. Even better, suggest turning the extra material into a chart, graphic or “charticle,” a short chart-like article.

6. Condense descriptions. If you’re writing about a complicated subject and included a couple paragraphs of background information explaining how something works, rework the material into one or two short sentences. Can you leave it out all together?

7. Can’t decide? Give choices. If your 1,500 word piece ends up at 1,700, choose the paragraphs you’re willing to part with. Then indicate them by writing something like OPTIONAL TO TRIM and END OPTIONAL TRIM before and after the graphs. Or set them off in brackets. This gives your editor choices, but then again, he may see your lovely words and decide he wants the whole thing.