I’m spending lots of time with my hero and heroine these days, mercilessly putting them through what the uber-talented Cherry Adair refers to as “what is the f***ing point of this scene” test. Yep, I’m in edit mode.
The most difficult part of the process for me is answering Cherry’s question. What is the point of the scene? Is it necessary? Does it add anything to the story, or do I just love the words and want to keep them? Worse, do I just not want to gut the entire scene — even when soul-deep I know it needs to go? (Said like I’ve never experienced that before! 🙂 ) Truth is, I’ve hacked off more words from a WIP than I would’ve liked over the years, and am loathe to do it. Even now.
But in order to fulfill my promise to my readers, I have to be tough. I have to be merciless. I have to make full use of the delete button. Working on it!
In my experience, editing is where either the magic happens or splitting a vein open would be easier. As far as this WIP goes, we shall see. . ..
-Melia
I sure can relate. I’m nearly finished with a second draft and had to cut some really fun lines because they no longer worked for the story as a whole. It sounds a little silly, but I never delete this stuff. I like keeping it around, even if it won’t be in the finished version.
Tammy, I’m the same way: I delete the scenes but give them life in another file. 🙂 Kinda makes me feel like they could be used elsewhere, although I’d pretty much forgotten what’s been “stored” in those files. OMG – does this make me a scene hoarder?! LOL. There’s a thought. . ..
-Melia