The WIP has a glaring problem and it looks as if I'll have no option but to get rid of several thousand words.What should I do with them? Delete them? Or copy them to a new folder in the hope that one day they may prove useful?
What's worse, I'll have to dispatch a character I'd grown rather fond of, but as she's making absolutely no contribution to the action, she has to go. She's a sparky person and there's always the chance she'll fight back by cropping up somewhere else, so no doubt I should be ruthless.
Do others find this difficult to do - edit out chunks that at the time of writing the first draft you considered well written and pertinent?
Ah well, enough procrastination,here goes........
Definitely keep all the cut bits in another file - especially that sparky character and use her somewhere else! My sympathies with the rewrite - I suspect I'll be joining you soon if I could get on and finish mine!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice,Rosemary.I'll hope to use her somewhere else!
ReplyDeleteAh yes - it's always so sad when you have to cut work you've slaved over and killing a character is even worse! I woyuld definitely keep it all though. You never know when it might be just what you need on a future book!
ReplyDeleteThe way I'm feeling at the moment about this WIP, it may be my last!
ReplyDeleteCut and keep - definitely, Myra. Store your excised bits in a well labelled file and there you have x words of another novel.
ReplyDeleteNow all I have to do is remember where they are!
ReplyDeleteAgree with everyone else- keep the bits you're cutting and the character as you can use them in another piece of work (particularly the character - I had a strong character appear in a book I never finished writing and she then re-appeared in a short story years later!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for all this good advice -I know she's only 'resting' now rather than having disappeared!
ReplyDelete