Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The Horror of Deleted Scenes
A couple of weeks ago, I did a guest post at the wonderful blog, Words At Home, which consisted of a deleted scene from Where It Began.
Due to the fact that I write in random order without an outline, I have many, many such deleted scenes from which to choose -- some deleted as a result of brief interludes of good judgment and others deleted as a result of the strongest possible suggestions my agent could muster without being undiplomatic or making me listen while she banged her head on her desk.
Anyway, I really did love this scene. It tied up some loose ends and it had an element of characters from different social groups singing "Kumbaya" and, coincidentally, not getting drunk during school lunch. I fought for this scene. I bitched and moaned and mourned while cutting this scene.
And now that it’s back, I’m in a state of Oh My God. Never mind that it actually contains grammatical errors and clunky repetition, but there’s a slight chance that it’s cheesy. Oh My God. Is this cognitive dissonance, I wonder? Do I have to think it’s cheesy because otherwise, noting its wonderfulness and the fact that it’s no longer in my book, I’d be too sad and miserable to go on? Or would a propensity for cognitive dissonance have more sinister implications for how I feel about what I left in the book…?
Self-doubt, recrimination, and hyperventilation probably being worse for branding than the dispensing of Really Bad Writing Advice, I read back through Where It Began in a state of perfect calm detachment, at the end of which I concluded that I still love it a lot.
I am, on the other hand, so glad that I saw reason and deleted what I deleted. And four months post-publication, I am ready to concede that Where It Began would not, in fact, have been all that much better at 986 pages.
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You make me laugh! But seriously thank you so much for at least *sharing* that scene with us! I loved it so much, I think that I could have gone for 986 pages of Where is Began... or maybe I should just do a reread for fun! :)
ReplyDeleteDear Bonnie,
ReplyDeleteBloggers like you and Asheley and Evie Seo and Liz (who blogged about the new cover about 10 minutes after I first saw it up online!) make it so great to have a YA out there! Thanks again for giving me the opportunity to be a guest at Words At Home, and for being so kind to Where It Began.
And a reread!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Ann
You are a thousand times more courageous than I would ever be for posting deleted scenes. And to revisit anything is to ask for the self-doubting elf to come in.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Mirka! And I love the fact that you conceptualize that particular demon as an elf -- makes it far more manageable.
DeleteAnn
I have enough deleted scenes to make another book -- if only they related to one another. I find that even when I later remove a scene, writing it helped me get to know my character better. So, even thought I didn't need it in the book, I needed it for me!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed today's post, and now I'm going to click on the link to read your deleted scene.
Thanks, Sandy! And I agree about the way writing every scene, including those that don't end up in the book, gets you closer to the heart of the character(s). (Although I note that you didn't come racing back to go, my, my, that deleted scene is the best thing since sliced word files...)
DeleteHi Ann! Visiting your blog from linkedIn. I'm stunned to find someone else who uses a similar method to put their story together. Seems I just can't follow a traditional method even I have been advised many times to do so. The scenes come to me and although they may be out of place when the arrive, I listen to my muse and get them on paper. :) life is good, and writing is an experience that makes me smile inside. Please visit me if you get a moment. Best to you. Jeanne
ReplyDeletehttp://warriorechidna.blogspot.com
Dear Jean,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by! Yeah, this does seem to be the only way I can write fiction, too. But it does wreak havoc with rewriting. (I have a post, Romancing the Rewrite, from yet another period of rewriting my current manuscript, that moans about it.) And now, I'm going to go visit your blog!
Best,
Ann