Yesterday, I discovered that the Kübler-Ross Model applies equally well to realizing the hard truth about your story’s length as it does to grief, and slid through the first three stages in the course of one conversation.

Stage 1: Denial
“This book is totally going to come in at the right length. Absolutely. Not a problem. What do you mean, you think the fact that I’ve already blown half the word count on the first 24 hours of action might be a problem? Don’t worry about it. I’ve totally got this under control.”

Stage 2: Anger
“God DAMN it! This book is going to run long. Son of a bitch. Damn word count limits! Stupid book! I hate you!”

Stage 3: Bargaining
“Well…maybe if I just run a little bit over… just a couple thousand words. Ten thousand, maybe? I could totally trim that out and get it in at the right length. Maybe it won’t be too bad.”

This is where I am right now. This book’s supposed to have an upper limit of 35k, and I’m kind of hoping that maybe if I can keep it to 45k, I can cut that extra flab out. 10k’s not so much, right? I mean, it’s only 22% of the book…

Next up, Stage 4: Depression
“OMG, this sucks. I am never going to get this short enough. I’m doomed. All this work, and it’s going to be for nothing because the stupid story’s too long. Why bother? I should just go knit instead.”

And maybe, if I’m lucky…eventually… Stage 5: Acceptance
“*whew* Well, that’s not so bad. I guess it’s not too long. And I can probably trim up that first scene, it’s a bit rambly. That’ll take care of a couple thousand words right off the bat. Oh, and maybe if I condense those other scenes… Yes, this is definitely doable.”