So I'm trying to write a where there's a massive increase and change in society. Of a peasant girl who later grew up to become a surgeon. The change is somewhat like a Meiji Restoration or China's own sudden jump in tech and wealth. I've divided it up into small 500 chapters each of them an important time in her life. It's also jumped to roughly 1.8k words. Any advice on how I should trim it down, or at least what is the best length for this?
I think you need to provide more information. To paraphrase the movie Excalibur, how big is the "story about the story"? On the bright side, if your main story is popular, you've already got a companion novella ready to go.
