My current novel clocked in at 110,000 words. I was relieved when an acquisitions editor asked me to flesh that out. Unfortunately, she didn’t mention until a month later that I couldn’t be considered if my manuscript breached the 100,000 mark. After five drafts, I was told I had to cut a minimum of 37,626 words before she would even read that draft, much less recommend it for publication.

I come from Norse stock and moonlight as a Sunday School teacher, so I’m well-versed in end of the world theory. On day 1, I was fairly certain that excising 27% of my words counted as Ragnarok, but then I settled down and calculated that I only had to find 68 words per page to cut and I calmed down considerably.

It took another month for me to get through drafts 6 and 7, but in the end, I sent the editor a novel that was 99,820 words and she declared the length to be perfect. I’m here to share a few things that I learned along the way.

• To borrow from Tyrion Lannister, “Chaos is not a pit. Chaos is a ladder.”  You may be starting your second draft or working on your seventh, like me. No matter where you are in the process, this is a great chance to tweak your own writing style.
• You can find great wit and wisdom in concision. Reducing five-paragraph sentences to the essentials drew me into an unexpectedly pithy zone where I made puns and had brilliant one-liners. I also found that my characters experienced life at the speed of thought, which lent situations gravity when they were dealing with crises. As tempting as it might be to think about a line of dialogue for three pages, it’s rarely necessary and it’s a rare reader who will have patience for it.
• Your readers won’t hate you for your pacing. A trope that I’ve noticed in television is the eye-of-the-storm pre-event evening of epiphany. They do it a lot in Revenge and Game of Thrones. If your story needs to move at a pace where you don’t go into pain-staking detail about the prelude to excitement, so be it. The story will be worth it.
• Cutting entire scenes isn’t as frightening as you might think. I keep a document of chunks of prose that I have removed, just in case I someday want to use them again. In that document are sentences and paragraphs and a few simple phrases. One memorable selection is a three-page interlude that fit with the style of the book , but was anecdotally interesting instead of vital to the plot. I plan on putting it on my site’s “Outtakes” section.
• When in doubt, reduce everything to a script. You can have nothing but dialogue and rudimentary stage direction. Then, re-read it so that you can see where a sentence or two of elaboration could drive the scene forward.

So, there we have it. It’s not the end of the world. It’s your ticket to ride on a great journey. If you ever face the dreaded word limit, I hope you now have some things to remind you of just how liberating this can be. These are principles that can be used at any stage of the editing process and as many times as required, no crisis necessary.

Bio: There are few hours in a week when Kathryn Olsen is not at a computer. She works for a disability firm, has a Steam obsession and writes fan fiction far more than is healthy. In her spare time, she can be found doting on her siblings’ kids, planning which country she’ll explore next or teasing her four goldfish.  She has recently signed a contract for her debut novel, Wingspan.

They publish four issues a year. They ask that you only submit once per quarter. They respond to all submissions very quickly, usually within two weeks. If you have not heard from them after a month, please query.

They pair the poems they publish with well chosen art and also sometimes with audio recordings of the poet reading their poem. Their website is easy to navigate and aesthetically pleasing.

It is easy to get a feeling for the work they publish by reading an issue. The poetry they publish tends to be clear and contain strong visual images, even if there is an element of ambiguity to it.

Up the Staircase nominates poems that they publish for the prestigious Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net.

All submissions are accepted via email. Please submit 3-5 poems at a time. You can also submit book and art reviews, art, and interviews for publication consideration.

They do not accept reprints but will consider work that is simultaneously submitted. They accept less than 5% of the work that is submitted to them.

To learn more you can visit their website here.

Triangle Square is an imprint of Seven Stories Press that focuses on publishing young adult novels and children’s books. Seven Stories Press is an independent publisher that is well respected and has been around for twenty years. Their books are distributed by Random House. You can read our full review of Seven Stories Press, here.

Triangle Square focuses on publishing high quality writing that is educational. They recently published Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond’s first science book for children, The Third Chimpanzee for Young People. But they also published an illustrated book called The Mummy Makers of Ancient Egypt by Tamara Bowers, and a novel called Misdirected by Ali Berman which focuses on such issues as bullying and homophobia.

Their books all have an educational aspect, even if they are fictional. Triangle Square, like Seven Stories Press has a focus on education and social justice, their audience is just younger.

It is a good idea to look through the books they have previously published so that you know what they are looking for. You could also buy a book, or check out a few of them from your local library.

Their submission policy is the same as Seven Stories Press. All submissions must be made by mail. Just send a cover letter and two sample chapters (no more), along with a self addressed and stamped envelope or postcard so that they can respond.

Their address is Seven Stories Press, 140 Watts Street, New York, NY, 1013.

To get a better feeling for what they publish, please visit their website here.