by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
In many ways, my children have been a blessing to me. There are all the big reasons they are…and a smaller one: they’re nothing at all like me. They’re extroverted and involved and fascinated by Big Activities that I avoid.
I wrote poems and stories in my room when I was in middle and high school. They ride horses and scuba dive and rock climb and enjoy parties…and one is now a cheerleader. This means that I’m exposed to all kinds of situations and people that I would ordinarily never experience.
With the cheerleading—wow. It’s quite the culture change for me. In school, I was the one who hung out with the nerdy literary crowd…literary magazine, newspaper. So it was with some level of discomfort that I sat with the other cheerleading moms for the first basketball game that my daughter was cheering at last Thursday. They were certainly not hanging out with the literary nerds in high school. And none of them had apparently brought a spiral notebook to write in before the game started.
These moms have known me for years, though—we’ve always been acquainted with each other and run in the same circles because they all volunteer at the school, like me. We small talked for a bit, but then one mom put me in a death spiral of panic. “Your daughter is so tiny. Did you have to alter her cheer uniform?” she asked.
I stared at her. “Of course—the extra-small swamped her. It would have fallen off.”
“Did you keep the extra cloth?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I’m a non-sewing mom. I took the uniform to an alterations lady.”
She gave me a worried look. “You might not know…but the school has to reuse those uniforms for next year.” The other moms gazed solemnly at me.
Oh gosh, I was already in trouble and we’d just started with cheerleading. I told her I guess I’d pay to replace the uniform…and the very next time I could get hold of my daughter, I turned up the bottom of the cheer top to see that the alterations lady, bless her soul, had merely cinched the material and sewn it together. Phew. The extra material was still there for next basketball season’s, almost certainly larger, cheerleader.
I may have to tip my alterations lady the next time I see her. I’m so relieved she operates the same way I do—because I always keep the cut cloth from my stories, even if I’m positive I’ll never use it.
Altering a story:
I added a subplot to the first draft on Friday—and then promptly hated the subplot. It didn’t seem right for the characters involved.
I made a search (by one of the characters’ names, since that was primarily how the subplot was used) and pulled out all the text. I figured, if I hated it, my editor (who’d asked for a subplot involving the character) would hate it, too.
I put it in a Word file labeled “cut scenes—Savannah.” Just in case.
I wrote out another subplot involving Savannah on a separate Word doc. This time I wanted to plan a more interesting arc for the poor character (who hadn’t been in the last book in the series and editor wanted a proper checking-in on her).
This arc also involved Savannah’s sister and their changing relationship. It intersected with the mystery well, too, and gave an opportunity for Savannah to learn an important clue while she was grappling with her own problems.
Then I wove the subplot into the first draft. This isn’t rocket science—or at least it’s not the way I do it. I’m looking for a point in the narrative where there’s a good spot for an addition—obviously, this wouldn’t be in the middle of an important scene or a bit of dialogue. It’s usually at the end of a scene or the beginning of another one. Now, the place where Savannah discovers a clue is important, a longer scene, and is more important to the plot—it may get its own spot in the middle of two other, important, scenes in the book.
Then I read through to make sure the addition is cohesive and doesn’t repudiate something else I’ve written. I remember one time I did this on another book and was shocked to see that I’d written the character as being out of town in a much-previous draft. Yeah, we have to take stuff like that out. Having the character be out of town visiting an ailing relative and then having the character discover a clue in town isn’t cool.
For this book, my editor wants several subplots for several characters she feels readers especially respond to. I go through this process a few times.
What’s your process for removing and adding scenes and subplots? Do you keep the text you delete from your draft (even if you feel that you’ll never use it?)
Image by mconnors , MorgueFile
I rarely delete large scenes and most of the small ones I admit I don’t keep. (Guess I’m in trouble with the cheerleading moms.) I do still have the original ending for my last book in a notebook somewhere…
Alex–You’d never cut it as a cheer mom. :) Yeah, who knows what we’ll do with the stuff we keep, though. I always think I might use it one day. Maybe we can have a “choose your own adventure” digital book with alternate endings and plots in the future.
I don’t know why there aren’t more “choose your own” stories. I started to write some in a lull, but didn’t get any finished and I don’t have any lulls now. It would be so easy in a digital book!
I never throw anything away. I, too, keep folders labeled Cuts. I’ve even used some of the material later.
Kaye–It would be so easy! I’m like you, though, I haven’t tried it. Thinking back to “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” I’d love to have a mystery with alternate killers, maybe even alternate victims. Different suspects? It could get mind-boggling, but doing different killers would be the easiest.
Elizabeth – It’s good to know that your alterations lady knew what to do about saving the material. And I’ll bet the cheerleading culture is a new one for you. It would be for me.
It’s funny you’d ask about cut scenes and characters. I don’t keep everything I cut from a story because some of it’s junk. It really is. But I do keep major plot points and character types. And they find their way into other stories sometimes. I’l admit I don’t keep my story remnants in neat, separate little ‘packages.’ But you never know when something that won’t work for one story can be fitted into another.
Margot–I haven’t re-purposed text from one story for another in forever! Maybe I should poke through some of those old Word folders.
My process is very similar. I create a file and call it “subplot” or “cafe scene” or whatever and yank it all out.
I also keep another file during revisions called Slush Pile (with a date) and that’s where I put everything I’ve cut from my first draft.
This has involved first chapters — and second chapters actually. (My novel coming out in June actually now begins on the third original chapter!) I also put scenes in there if I’m pretty confident I won’t be using them again.
If I’m just re-arranging, I create a file sometimes called Add Back In. And then figure out where that crucial information will fit best.
As I may have mentioned, I’m a total nerd when it comes to reading about other writer’s processes, so thanks again for this article.
And I’m also glad, as a mother, that I’m not the only mother who finds herself in situations like that during social interactions centered around her children!
Kristi–I like your ‘add back in’ file. Nice idea! Yes, I like reading about other writers’ processes, too–it’s always really helpful to show me possible new approaches.
Sometimes I keep what I’ve cut, but not usually. It depends how much and what exactly it is I’m cutting.
I love your new website, Elizabeth. It looks fantastic!
Happy reading and writing! from Laura Marcella @ Wavy Lines
Thanks, Laura!
I love it, “none of them had apparently brought a spiral notebook to write in”.
I save drafts with and without big edits. I don’t know why because my first instinct to cut something is always right. But I feel better having all that work saved somewhere.
Peace, Seeley
Seeley–It feels safer, somehow, doesn’t it? But yeah, I rarely use it.
Hi Elizabeth
Loved the cheerleading story. I’ve got all that to look forward to ;)
I tend to keep the big stuff. In my recent manuscript, I’d re-told a greek myth, from the eyes of one of the protagonists, who happens to come from the myth, as a sort of story-within-a-story. I was suitably chuffed with it, until my editor told me it was a bit like stopping the plot for a history lesson :) So that one went into the deleted scenes folder in Scrivener.
Anything less than that and it’s in the bin. I figure I’m always getting better (hopefully) and if the idea was good enough, I’ll come back to it, only I’ll write it a bit better next time around.
I’ve done the out of town thing as well. I write in all the little gaps in my life, and as work gets more busy, so the gaps get smaller. I’ll grab ten minutes here, write that someone is doing something, and when I return, have them doing something entirely different! Ah, the joys of the edit.
cheers
Mike
Mike–Ahh…don’t you hate that? It’s tricky to color our stories with our research without overwhelming readers with it to the point it’s author intrusion. I’ve had to work on it, too….especially with the quilting series. I’m not a quilter, myself, so I had to do research and then weave it in carefully to make sure it wasn’t overkill. But I hang onto all the research and I do use bits of it in other books.
I think that’s where a lot of my problems lie–I sometimes have to grab writing time on the go and then I’ve lost my train of thought from the previous scene. I’ll either end up repeating myself, or do something egregious like the ‘out of town’ mistake.
Love the story, I was the non-cheerleader who lived with my cheerleader sister type. As for the writing stuff I’m a total paper-rat. I save everything and sometimes it’s saved me when an editor wanted things added.
Sally–That has the makings of a book!
Saving stuff does occasionally really help me out, too. I’d had an idea for an outline, scrapped it, then the editor asked for another suspect and I added it back in. :)
I can’t help but comment on the cheerleading story, having a son that graduated high school last spring. What a passive aggressive comment from that mom! What else were you going to do but alter the uniform? Why didn’t the coach or other girls mention saving the uniform? Your alterations lady had probably been through that before, and yes, a tip would be great! And the mom is kind of implying that your daughter won’t be in the uniform next year. Sorry – this is one thing I don’t miss about being involved in my son’s school activities. But I was very involved and wouldn’t trade the experience for the world. Just save me from some of the other moms. Can you tell a button was pushed? ;)
Ha! Well, I certainly understand where you’re coming from. :) That’s why I’m frequently the one at these events who’s either taking pictures, writing, or coming up with story ideas in my head.
Luckily, I had kids that are interested in some of the same things I was in school: writing, art, etc. I don’t think I’d fit in with the cheer-leading crowd too well. I didn’t have pleasant experiences with them in school or the in-crowd. I’m glad you didn’t have a dilemma though with the uniform. As for cutting and deleting scenes, I just do different versions (updates, I’d suppose you’d call them) each time I change something. Then if something strikes me as being something I should put back in, I just go back and see about fitting it in again. Sometimes it works, sometimes, it doesn’t.
Traci–It wasn’t a great group at our school either…I’m trying to put away years of preconceptions! Told my daughter that now she couldn’t just be nice–she had to be *super nice!*
I’m like you–I’ve stuck stuff back in my manuscript before and it just didn’t work out. I’ve had to cut it out again.
I keep all major deleted scenes, but as yet, I’ve never put any of them in. :-D
I always work chronologically while revising or editing, so usually, I write stuff in and alter the old work to fit as I go.
I’d go nuts otherwise. :-)
Misha–I sort of go chronologically when revising, but sometimes not. A shame, because when I jump around, it makes the process take a lot longer.
“The other moms gazed solemnly at me”–hah! That is pitch-perfect.
In reading your description of the elaborate process of generating subplots, I can’t think of any equivalent in my own writing–other than cutting a subplot. Years ago, I was struggling with a novel. I was convinced it had merit, but knew it wasn’t right. It was congested and plodding, viscous instead of free-flowing. I regret not remembering what led to my “Eureka!” moment (actually, I regret not remembering a lot more than that), but when it finally came, I saw what needed to be done. I had one too many point-of-view characters, four instead of three. Once I turned #4 into a lesser being with no interior life, the logjam cleared. That experience led me to establish a rule for myself. I write third-person narratives, and the rule says: never more than three POV characters.
Barry–Hope that wasn’t too bad of a revision…removing the character as a POV. I’ve made it super, super easy on myself with the one POV character in the last few books. Although I do admit I get a little tired of being in one character’s head all the time.
Ugh, yes. So brutal. That parts always hard for me.
Sarah Allen
(From Sarah, With Joy>
Hi Elizabeth – I think your alterations lady knew the score .. so glad she’s pinched the material together .. she must have done a good job if neither of you noticed. My sewing would not stand that test of time!
You’re very organised .. so I can see you with all your ‘papers’ in Word – ready if needed for those extra take outs …
Don’t they do some books with different endings .. I wouldn’t like to chose, but occasionally I’d change endings! Cheers Hilary
[…] James Scott Bell reminds us that first and foremost, writers must be storytellers; K.M. Weiland debunks the myth of being in the writing zone; and Elizabeth S. Craig asks: do you keep the material you cut from your novels? […]