Where do all those extra scenes go?

[PattiTheWicked]

I've discovered over the last few years that I have quite a few files on my computer that are actually deleted scenes from previous work -- scenes I wrote with the best of intentions and then, for one reason or another, dumped later on but didn't have the heart to destroy. Instead, they live in a little place called c:/Writingstuff/UnusedCrap on my hard drive....

In my WIP, I got to about page 80 when it occurred to me I didn't like my main character much because she was so freakin' boring. I gave her a major career change, which made her -- and the story -- significantly more exciting, but it also meant that in the reworking phased I had to dump several really well-done (but now irrelevant) scenes.

What do the rest of you do with these little bits? Do you save them for a future novel or short story? Fertilize your garden or line the catbox with them? Or is there a land somewhere, beyond the rainbow, where all these unwanted and unloved scenes can frolic together and be happy?

[Susan Gable]

When I have to cut big bits out of a WIP, I paste them into another document, usually called "Chopped from WIP'S Title."

Then it's not as hard, because I'm not just deleting them. Also if you change your mind later, you can retrieve them. Some of them I've put up on my website as "Bonus Features" like on a DVD - scenes edited out. LOL. It's kind of neat to see the stuff that got chopped.

Susan G.

[Jonathon Michaels]

I save everything.

Some scenes I'm able to work into other WIP's. Others I have built completely new stories around. This has come in handy for building contest stories or other short works, especially.

I have one that I wrote completely around the main character being shot down. I liked the scene but it didn't fit the story, so I snipped it. Later, I was writing a totally unrelated contest entry for another site and formed a new story around it.

Most remain in my miscellaneous folder on the computer or in my idea box full of hastily written ideas on index cards. I may never use them, or I may. If nothing else, many of them have helped me as a springboard for other brainstorming sessions.

[three seven]

I never throw anything away. I keep all the cut bits in a Deleted Scenes folder inside the relevant WIP folder inside the main WIP folder inside... yeah, you get the picture. http://www.geocities.com/thingumybobwotsit/shy.gif

[E.G. Gammon]

Abstract ideas or cut ideas from other WIPs can have a major impact when placed somewhere else. My main project is a novel series (originally it was to be an 8-year network soap opera) and while I was working on it, I had a couple ideas for television shows. One of them, while the starting point was good, didn't go anywhere beyond that "starting point" (atleast to a place where I liked it). I took that idea and when I incorporated it into my novel series' story, it played a major role in bringing the whole story together and it actually resurrected a character in a future book I kill off early on. I make it a rule never to throw away anything. I have a box full of lost ideas, just waiting to find a place somewhere else.

E.G.

[preyer]

i'd imagine most writers keep all of their ideas, especially ones that turn out to just become displaced in a WIP. the best ones i seem to remember for a long time, so those get recycled pretty quickly ('quick' in my world is relative, lol), and i'm not adverse to using the same ideas more than once.

[Jamesaritchie]

I've discovered over the last few years that I have quite a few files on my computer that are actually deleted scenes from previous work -- scenes I wrote with the best of intentions and then, for one reason or another, dumped later on but didn't have the heart to destroy. Instead, they live in a little place called c:/Writingstuff/UnusedCrap on my hard drive....

In my WIP, I got to about page 80 when it occurred to me I didn't like my main character much because she was so freakin' boring. I gave her a major career change, which made her -- and the story -- significantly more exciting, but it also meant that in the reworking phased I had to dump several really well-done (but now irrelevant) scenes.

What do the rest of you do with these little bits? Do you save them for a future novel or short story? Fertilize your garden or line the catbox with them? Or is there a land somewhere, beyond the rainbow, where all these unwanted and unloved scenes can frolic together and be happy?

I don't have any unused scenes that I can think of. Should I have to cut something from a novel of short story, which is rare, it's alway cut after the work is finished, and I just delete it. I'm far mor elikely to have to add a scene when a story is finished, than I am to cut a scene. I do have to tighten, but not usually by cutting scenes.

I don't have any abandoned works to use. I'm a firm believe in Heinlein's Rules. So I write, and I always finish what I write.

HEINLEIN'S RULES FOR WRITING

1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
3. You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order.
4. You must put the work on the market.
5. You must keep the work on the market until it is sold.

[Tish Davidson]

When I'm working on a project, I usually have three files going - the WIP, a file I call outtakes (or occasionally I call it odd bits) for excised material and a file called ideas for thoughts I'm not quite ready to use, but that i want to remember. I save everything. Then of course there are the infamous files WIP rev 1, WIP rev 2, WIP rev 3, etc.

[Lenora Rose]

With all due respect to Heinlein -- well, actually, I'm not much of a Heinlein fan, so scratch that.

I'm a continuous rewriter, and I don't think it's a bad thing to be, as my rough drafts are often wordy splurges. (Hey, if I can cut a story from 180k to 135k, while simultaneously adding a totally new subplot and the necessary scenes therefrom, I think I used excess words the first time). I do find a "deleted" file gives me the confidence to remove the material without regrets - and this in addition to having a saved copy of the prior draft elsewhere. Little of it ever gets retrieved afterwards for any purpose, but at least it's there. You know. In case I'm wrong.

Overall, though, the most common thing to go in there is infodumps.

I also have a file of scenes or bits of dialogue I mean to insert later - and sometimes you really can't tell the two apart, because the latter is just as rarely used. I usually hit that scene to insert and find I phrase it better by just plowing through rather than cutting and pasting the first version in.

[pepperlandgirl]

I don't rewrite while I'm drafting. So in my folders, I have WIPDraft 1, WIPDraft 2, WIPDraft 3. I creative Draft 2 and draft 3 by C&Ping the relevent parts into a new word document. Because of this system, I may cut scenes from draft to draft, but I never lose a scene. It's still saved somewhere. However, I've never used a cut scene in another work.

[James D. Macdonald]

I've used cut scenes in the same work they were cut from -- it turned out that they'd been in the wrong places. Later, when the book was taking shape, where they really belonged became apparent.

(I also throw in little paragraphs and scenes that aren't meant for the final book; they're just there to make my coauthor laugh. Those go into an outtake file. Sort of like a blooper reel.)

[Lenora Rose]

(I also throw in little paragraphs and scenes that aren't meant for the final book; they're just there to make my coauthor laugh. Those go into an outtake file. Sort of like a blooper reel.)

Oh, lord - does anyone ELSE ever get to see the blooper reel? The best of the blooper reel?

(Darn, there's no good smilie for begging... ah, smilies are overused anyhow.)

[Jamesaritchie]

With all due respect to Heinlein -- well, actually, I'm not much of a Heinlein fan, so scratch that.

I'm a continuous rewriter, and I don't think it's a bad thing to be, as my rough drafts are often wordy splurges. (Hey, if I can cut a story from 180k to 135k, while simultaneously adding a totally new subplot and the necessary scenes therefrom, I think I used excess words the first time). I do find a "deleted" file gives me the confidence to remove the material without regrets - and this in addition to having a saved copy of the prior draft elsewhere. Little of it ever gets retrieved afterwards for any purpose, but at least it's there. You know. In case I'm wrong.

Overall, though, the most common thing to go in there is infodumps.

I also have a file of scenes or bits of dialogue I mean to insert later - and sometimes you really can't tell the two apart, because the latter is just as rarely used. I usually hit that scene to insert and find I phrase it better by just plowing through rather than cutting and pasting the first version in.

Nothing is a bad thing to be, if you can make it work. I have found, however, that while a bit of Heinlein's advice won't work for everyone, most of it is absolutely necessary. You can't publish if you don't write, you can't publish if you don't finish what you write, you can't publish if you fiddle endlessly with the words, or spend so much time rewriting you never submit, you can't publish if you don't submit, and you can't publish if you don't keep submitting.

"Due respect" for Heinlein means as much respect as it's possible to give. Like him or hate him, he was right, and it's impossible to over-praise the impact his writing has had on all genre writers and on publishing.

[victoriastrauss]

When I have to cut big bits out of a WIP, I paste them into another document, usually called "Chopped from WIP'S Title."I do this too, or for paragraphs I really like but find I can't use, or for alternate versions of scenes and dialogue where I'm not 100% certain about the changes I'm making. Occasionally I save alternate versions of chapters. Otherwise, I simply overwrite on a continuous basis (like Lenora, I'm a constant reviser/rewriter) and don't save anything but that day's work.

- Victoria

[emeraldcite]

like many others who answered, i too save my scenes in a "cut from" file. sometimes, i'll paste all my cut scenes into one file and print it. other times, when i'm in a jam, i'll return to these scenes for use in another work, but only if i like the exchange or the description. I find that my cut scenes end up like my notebooks: piecemeal thoughts to be integrated later. i'm not a very linear writer; i tend to surgically remove things out from different locales and paste them into a viable pastiche of impressions that occasionally form a coherent scene.

in other words, it's like cutting the pieces to fit a jigsaw puzzle. a little trimming here, a little glue there, and voila! got me a nice little reproduction of monet.

[Lenora Rose]

Nothing is a bad thing to be, if you can make it work. I have found, however, that while a bit of Heinlein's advice won't work for everyone, most of it is absolutely necessary. You can't publish if you don't write, you can't publish if you don't finish what you write, you can't publish if you fiddle endlessly with the words, or spend so much time rewriting you never submit, you can't publish if you don't submit, and you can't publish if you don't keep submitting.

"Due respect" for Heinlein means as much respect as it's possible to give. Like him or hate him, he was right, and it's impossible to over-praise the impact his writing has had on all genre writers and on publishing.

I agree with you on all points here - the first remark about Heinlein was mostly tongue in cheek, not vicious.