What value if any do you find in a scene or entire story when you reach the point at which you realize just isn’t working? Do you ever save bits & pieces for later use?
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"I do! I have a folder on my desktop labeled 'Darlings', and I throw all the murdered bits into it - dialogue exchanges, scenes, sometimes just random snippets of descriptions. I probably won't ever use them again, but at least I can feel like they're not permanently gone." - Stefan Bachmann, author of The Peculiar.
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"I hoard cut scenes! I have huge files of text that I’ve had to cut from one manuscript or another, in the hopes of finding a place to tuck them in. Sometimes, I do find new homes for these orphans." - Robin Bridges, author of The Unfailing Light.
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"I save everything in the hopes that it will come in handy at some point in the future. Given that my writing changes with every draft, I always want to be prepared in case I need to reference or re-use something that I’ve cut in the past. For me, the hardest thing to cut is humor between the characters, so this is something I always look for opportunities to bring back." - P.J. Hoover, author of Solstice.
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"Writing is re-writing. For me, the initial flow of prose is rarely (not never, but rarely) what makes it on the final page. I like to get space and time away from a scene, or even individual paragraphs, to open up what is necessary and what is not." - Lara Avery, author of Anything But Ordinary.
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"Always! I have a giant file of discarded writing. Occasionally, as I'm revising a book I come to a passage and think, "You know what? I did that better once. Where is that version?" Sometimes, I even find what I'm thinking about and use it." - Adam Gidwitz, author of In a Glass Grimmly.
"I save everything, even little sentences I’ve cut. Just because I think it’s not working at the moment doesn’t mean I won’t think differently in a day or two!" - Sharon Cameron, author of The Dark Unwinding.
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"I never save bits and pieces. When I delete, it's gone. And for good reason. The lesson of letting go is one of the hardest in life and in writing." - Suzanne Selfors, author of The Sweetest Spell.
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"Even if a scene ultimately doesn't work, the time I put into writing the wrong parts help me to write the right parts. Sometimes you have to try out a few different options before you discover which one works best. I do save every scene I write, and sometimes the parts that didn't work in one scene turn out to work in a different scene later on. I love it when that happens!" - Malinda Lo, author of Adaptation.
On Tuesday, find out who the authors would have write their sequel if they couldn't.
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