Not working

Okay, so I got through the cutting, and I started the stitching, such as it is. I went through and marked what needed to go where, what needed to happen, who needed to be there, what needed to be said, and so on. And now I have to do it.

And I did some! I started an addition to an existing scene early on in the novel, where Christine (our heroine) talked to her immediate supervisor (a new character) about her computer (exciting!) when the deputy managing editor comes in! Now I've stalled out. I'm on the bit where the DME rips Christine a new one, though what's stalled me is the how of the ripping.

Should I go with passive aggressive? Should I go with plain old aggressive? Plain old aggressive would be simpler. It's straight forward. But I'm leaning toward passive aggressive. That would require some shading, though he'd still be an asshole. The question has halted me for a good time now, even though I carry the manuscript in my bag constantly. I have yet to finish that scene, and I'm using it as an excuse to not write any other scene - it's the whole "I'll get to those when I figure this out" thing.

Having just written that, I think I'll move on to another scene and come back to this one later. It seems most expedient at the moment. I'd do it now, but I'm at work. And that's not an excuse.

Okay, maybe it is a little excuse.

The Bloodletting is Over

Now it's time to stitch up.

But let me talk about the blood letting for a minute. Because simply marking up a hardcopy of a manuscript is no big deal. It looks bad, because all that red can put you a mindset of actually bleeding something to death (it does to me anyway - I'll stop writing "you"). But then comes the actual cutting from the copy itself. And by that I mean going into the file, highlighting and hitting delete.

A lot of people have a problem with that, and I can understand why. When you've spent so much time putting words on computer screen, crafting sentences and fleshing out characters and so on. But the fact is, sometimes you have to do it. This time around, though, it wasn't so bad. I was able to make the marks on the hard copy, then go in and get rid of it in the file. In the end, I cut over 100 pages of superfluous crap. I cut a character. I cut a plot point. And in the end, the book went from a bloated 462 pages to a too lean 330.

The thing is, the book will bulk up again. Those cuts have to be stitched shut. In some cases, I'm going to have to rewrite scenes. In other cases, I'm going to have to create scenes that are basically connective tissue. And the toughest part of all, I'm going to have to rewrite the Daniel character.

When I come back, I'll have started on that stitching, and I'll let you know how it's going.

Killing Your Darlings

As I move through the editing stage of Godsend, there are times when I have a decision to make: To cut a scene or line that I truly love but has no place in the story, or to leave it in and try to work around it somehow.

I've come to two scenes where the main character - Christine - meets her soulmate - Daniel - in a bookstore. Each time, she's looking for books (the first time it's for a gift, the second, it's for a book she herself needs). But because of the changes, these scenes will have to be cut and then re-written. There are two reasons for this.

The first is that a major plot line has been excised from the story (or is being excised), which means Christine's behavior toward Daniel will change. The other reason is that Daniel is something of a wimp in these parts of the story. He reacts when he should act.

But there are some good lines in those scenes, especially from Christine. She's assertive, especially in the second scene, and that's part of her story arc. She has to go from something of a wallflower to an actor in her own life, and in those scenes she begins to. But who would be attracted to a wimp, or a guy who was a reactor? I suppose it's possible, but mutual action would be better for the story.

I suppose years from now I might look back and what I'd cut and think that it was all crap and it deserved to be cut out. Or I could wonder what possessed me to cut it in the first place. Looking at it right now, some of those lines might be darlings, but they need to be killed.