Craft Glossary · term

Bloat / narrative flab

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Plain English: Bloat (flab, fat, padding) is anything that makes the manuscript longer without making it more. At sentence level: filter words, doubled explanations, abstract nouns where a verb would do. At scene level: the visit that changes nothing, the argument that repeats the last argument, the three paragraphs of interiority that restate one feeling. At book level: Act II incidents with no midpoint pivot.

Rule: Cut by function: does this line/scene/chapter (1) change the situation, (2) reveal character, or (3) deliver necessary information? If none, cut or compress. When revising, try 25% shorter on the problem section — what returns is usually what mattered.

Fail: Word-count anxiety bloat — adding material to "hit target length" instead of deepening conflict. Explanatory bloat — telling the reader what the scene already showed. Research bloat — the digression that proves you read a book. Emotional bloat — three metaphors for one feeling.

See: Over-explanation · Purple prose · Velocity · Line edit

Arjuna Badger Press · Craft Library

Glossary · Doctrine · Anti-patterns · Triptych form · LLM tells

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