Friday, September 14, 2007

Audio book dilemmas

I understand how convenient audio books are, especially to people who spend a lot of time in their cars, but sometimes I think the abridging process is more difficult that writing a novel in the first place. It dawned on me this week that it's about time to start abridging my next novel, Freefall, for the audio book version. The book is due out sometime in the spring and I don't want to get too far in my other projects without getting this one completely wrapped up.

What I hadn't realized was how many words I had to cut. My books seem to be growing in length, and this is the first time I have been faced with cutting more than 20,000 words. (20,903 words to be exact.)

Though I hated to do it, I pulled two subplots out, and cut several scenes that were not from the main characters' points of view. Just as I was considering how many bandaids I would need to keep this audio version from bleeding, I checked my word count only to find I still have almost 3,000 more words to cut. Oh, the joy.

As I prepare to go back into surgery to find the heart of this book, red pen in hand, I find myself with a new goal: to have a book accepted that will be unabridged in the audio version. First, I just have to survive finishing this one! Wish me luck!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hi traci,
wow, i had no idea. is that normal practice to have to cut out so much just to get a book produced verbally? isn't that hard for you to have to cut out so much of the juicy story that maybe you don't want to let go of?

why can't the audio books be the word length of the book? is it because typical people will get too bored and you will freak them out if it has TOO many disks/tapes?

if i loved the book, i think i would want to hear the whole thing, too. i think i would feel gipped if parts were ommited after i was already used to the publication. do you agree with this? or it is impossible because this is what the editor and final approval says so?

cool checking out some of your posts from when you first started. cheers, kathleen :)