More is Less

Since Sarah started it, I'm happy to continue the discussion about REVISION. (Somehow, it merits all caps.)

I am deep into revisions right now and it seems the more I write, the more I cut. And the characters and story get stronger the more I carve away from them. The funny thing is, whenever I cut entire pages or multiple paragraphs from a chapter, replacing them with one or two sentences, the Slushies always comment about how they like that I've included MORE description or explaination or history in this version of the chapter.

I look back at the earlier version and find that yes, indeed, I have taken three paragraphs and reduced them to one sentence, and lo and behold, my critiquers tell me I've added something.

What that tells me is that I've clarified. I've eliminated what doesn't need to be there and reduced the important stuff to its very essence. It tells me that my writing is getting better.

Good, because I don't know how many more revisions I can do. This is tough stuff.

The scenes we leave out

I figure it's time for a break from all things NaNoWriMo (Especially since I'm behind in my word count- don't worry, I'll catch up.)

Since NaNoWriMo is all about just getting words on the page, I'm going discuss

drum roll please

Revision!

A very specific form of revision, actually.

Several months ago, I wrote a great scene for my WIP. It established aspects of my MC's character I hadn't ironed out, introduced us to people in her past, and solidified the life she had before the story begins.

Great scene. I love writing it. I loved reading it. So did the Slushies.

But the consensus was that it didn't need to go at the beginning of the story, because it's not really part of the story. It was also too big to be a flashback, and too involved to be split into tiny flashbacks.

It took me a while to realize that I shouldn't do anything with it.

And not in the this-is-gorgeous-and-insightful-prose-and-no-unhallowed-hands-shall-cut-it-from-this-manuscript sense. Nothing, as in the-readers-will-never-see-it sense.

Here's why: it wasn't part of my story. It set the stage for the story.

So why didn't I sob silently as I cut this really cool bit from my MS?

Because it will be in everything I write. It will show up because I know it. And because I know it, the reader will, too. That scene shaped the way I viewed my story; it informs the way I'm crafting it.

A professor of mine once told me that everything we cut from a MS haunts it. The weight and sense and soul of what we cut lingers in our work, even if it isn't visible on the page.

It doesn't mean readers won't feel the effects of my special scene. It just means it that a reader won't be able to turn to such-and-such page to find it.

How about you? Any really good parts that you've cut, that you realized you needed more than your readers? I can't be the only one.

Meanwhile, I have some serious catching up to do with NaNo...