- search for adverbs. Remember defiantly thinking "adverbs are GREAT, everyone who says to cut them is WRONG"? okay, now cut them
- somebody looks, glances, blinks, breathes: no they don't
- somebody is wearing clothes: no they aren't
- go through the whole draft again: maybe you've accidentally pasted one chapter in five or six times, and can simply delete the extras
- change the setting! something that was set in Norwood Junction could be more efficiently set on Mars
- the first time you mention your protagonist, add this line: "She nodded, silent and taciturn as was her way". As you're adding words this might seem like you're making the novel even longer, but you can then replace every sentence your protagonist says in the rest of the book with a grunt. You've got to spend money to make money
- are there any places where you can you combine characters? For example, ꜳrdvark, churchgœr, e℔ow
- show, don't tell: a page of description might add two hundred words to your count, but a screenshot of a page of description will add zero
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in reply to @hollygramazio's post:
Another tip: Starting in media res is a great tool. Delete the first 4 chapters and your readers will enjoy the challenge of picking up a thread that hasn't really been set up.
furiously replacing all my prose with blurry jpeg screenshots of prose
this is particularly useful because once you've taken the verbs out any objects pretty much have to go too.
Problem: I cut too many pages using these great tips and now my groundbreaking fantasy novel is a novelette at best (really I'd call it a short story). Any advice on how to lengthen it?
find an alphabetical list of adverbs and go through, adding one after each verb in your draft. If you use them all up before you get to the end of the book, just start at "abruptly" again. Repeat as necessary.