I just deleted 70 pages of my life, and I feel nothing
- Thread starter Akuma
- Start date
- Status
Yup. Whole chapters. An entire first half of a novel. There was a time when it would have killed me. Now, it's no big thing.
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2005
- Messages
- 5,027
- Reaction score
- 518
- Location
- I'm not even sure I know anymore...
- Website
- lmashton.com
Yup. Chapters, beginnings of a novel, and so on. Sometimes, it's just got to be done to make the story stronger.
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2005
- Messages
- 43,746
- Reaction score
- 8,654
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Website
- www.amazon.com
Yeah, 7 chapters or about 15,000 words (I guess that's about 60 pages). It was the right cut and I managed to keep a few things. Sold the book after I made the cut.
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2007
- Messages
- 2,921
- Reaction score
- 488
- Age
- 46
- Location
- Prague now, Glasgow in November
I had 90,000 words of my fantasy novel, then discovered I hated the plot. I might be able to salvage the odd paragraph but overall, it's gone. It is really hard, so you have my sympathies.
JessR
JessR
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2007
- Messages
- 153
- Reaction score
- 11
- Location
- Michigan
- Website
- www.SwordOfShakespeare.com
I can feel your pain; I'm almost done with editing and have seen my ms shrink from 339K to (probably) 220K. Chapters, characters, good parts and obvious bad ones, too. I can say the storyline is indeed tighter but I'm looking over my shoulder at what was left on the cutting room floor. I'm told I have no chance of ever getting this published because this is my first attempt. My nine lives has shrunk to (-1) simply because I refuse to cut the very soul out of what I've created. I figure; better to see something decent than to meet the industry first-time novelist standards and come up empty (imo, of course). So, I figure I'll write the best story I can and since I've seen plenty of novels in the 700+ pg range, know that when I get rejected, it will be for a story with some integrity. In my case, I couldn't gut the original to 1/3 of its original content.
Pain, yeah, I feel for you. Hopefully, what's left will still resonate. That's my hope, at least...
Michael
Pain, yeah, I feel for you. Hopefully, what's left will still resonate. That's my hope, at least...
Michael
Painful yet oddly satisfying, isn't it? 
I think if I'd saved every word I cut from my first novel, I might almost have another one. A slightly shorter, adverb-happy, and far less coherent one.
I think if I'd saved every word I cut from my first novel, I might almost have another one. A slightly shorter, adverb-happy, and far less coherent one.
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2006
- Messages
- 4,527
- Reaction score
- 1,182
- Location
- Ottawa, Canada and Spring City, PA
- Website
- janetursel.com
I will be soon. I'm almost finished the first draft and I'm going to lose 2-4 chapters in the first few minutes of the second draft. I've been agonizing for a long time about the third and fourth one. I think I'll probably cut them and wait to see if they insist on being re-inserted or not. The other two have got to go, no reprieve possible.
Only 70 pages?
Yes, I have cut entire chapters, combined characters, changed the plot, completely revised the first 4 chapters, deleted cutesy invented word "definitions" heading each chapter, etc. etc.
I didn't feel nothing. I felt right.
But why delete? What's the need for such angst? In the process of getting the thing ready for submission, sure, that version gets things taken out of it, sometimes lots of stuff. But as available as computer storage is today, why not just keep copies of the older versions? I've had more than one occasion to go back and revisit those earlier versions, and to recover or rewrite stuff I once thought I didn't need or couldn't use. I store numbered versions of things pretty much forever.
caw
caw
The real question isn't how you feel about deleting, it's how it affects the novel. If the novel is better without the deleted section, then you should feel good about that.
It's always been my consolation when I've had to cut large hunks from my work.
It's always been my consolation when I've had to cut large hunks from my work.
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2006
- Messages
- 4,527
- Reaction score
- 1,182
- Location
- Ottawa, Canada and Spring City, PA
- Website
- janetursel.com
Blacbird, in my case, I just meant deleting from the work in question. I'm not going to throw out chunks like that forever. Especially the ones that are essentially backstory. They could yet come in handy.
Oh, yes. I cut whole swaths of my draft when I'm revising and editing. My first drafts tend to run very long. But I always keep the original uncut draft in a separate version. It's less painful that way, and I can always cannibalize the old version for short fiction if I need to.
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2005
- Messages
- 11,792
- Reaction score
- 4,698
- Location
- Wicked Little Town
- Website
- cathellisen.com
Does tossing a whole novel in the trunk count?
There are things I might want to salvage, but yeah, as a whole, that baby is knackered.
There are things I might want to salvage, but yeah, as a whole, that baby is knackered.
Ugh... I''m trying to forget that I basically need to rewrite my entire story. It isn't a comforting thought.
~Kathy
~Kathy
Huge chunks of my first draft didn't make the second. Huge chunks of my second didn't make the third. Most of this happened not because the scenes were poorly written, but because I'd revised the plot.
My "murdered darlings" file of scenes deleted from drafts two and three is 12,000 words long.
My "murdered darlings" file of scenes deleted from drafts two and three is 12,000 words long.
I've cut chunks out of novels, chunks of text that just didn't work. I don't consider that I've deleted my "life" though. My time, maybe, but not my life. And I don't typically permanently delete anything. I keep a folder for things I cut but want to keep. It makes the cutting less painful and it could be a gem that might work for another piece. You never know.
Yes, I'm realizing I'm going to have to do it. I'll probably cut the first chapter, and almost completely rewrite the second.
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2005
- Messages
- 23,708
- Reaction score
- 10,661
- Location
- In a world of my own making
- Website
- shadowferret.wordpress.com
Never.
At least not in the revision stage.
I've often gone off on a wrong tangent while writing a novel and had to scrap several pages to get back on track.
At least not in the revision stage.
I've often gone off on a wrong tangent while writing a novel and had to scrap several pages to get back on track.
I just cut 20,000 words of my third novel in the last revisions. There were some good scenes in there, some great lines, but it didn't fit the story.
- Status