We all have these grand story ideas. Admit it; I know you do. And we think we have them all figured out. Many times we do and it's all great, but sometimes we get it written and then look at it and say it's all wrong, or the ending isn't right. At that point we have two choices.
Do we #1 say oh well its good enough, or #2 pull up our big girl pants and hit the delete button?
YIKES! I know its never fun to lose words on a story. It's such fun thing to see that word count hit 20,000 or 50,00 or more. Who in their right mind would delete a handful of pages? Those who want to get it right.
I ran into this problem with my current WIP. I had it all written the way I had planned it, but then the ending wasn't right. It was fine, maybe no one else would feel like I did that it wasn't right. Maybe, others would like it how it was, but for me, it just didn't feel right. I had to decided something then. Keep it the way it was or hit delete.
Well I chose the right choice, I think. It's hard admitting you're wrong even if it means sacrificing some word count. I'll admit it hurt drawing a big X on 15 pages and even more when a few more went after that, but it's worth it. I am still working on the new ending but I already know I made the right choice. So even thought it was hard, it was worth it.
For those who are nervous about it, don't delete it forever, keep a copy to refer to if you need to, but do it if your story needs it. Your future self will thank you!
Your point is well taken because when I read stories I can often tell when an author just loved a bizarre statement too much to let it go. Funny that.
ReplyDeleteI think keeping a file with the deleted scenes is important. you never know when you can use what you wrote somewhere else. Plus, you wrote it! You can't edit a blank page. I have to keep reminding myself about that. WRite it so I can edit it!!!
ReplyDelete