Just wanted to pop in to share my excitement.
As I've mentioned earlier, I'm rewriting the beginning of FI. It's a decision that was hard to come to -- as I love my beginning. But inevitably, I had to face the fact that it just wasn't working as is. The writing isn't at the level the later stuff is, and it just didn't match the rest of the book quite the way I wanted it to.
So, begrudingly, I began a rewrite. I still wasn't 100% convinced I could let go of some of the original scenes. Some of them I LOVE...some of them are, let's face it...my darlings. And I didn't want to kill them.
When I was on my morning walk, that all changed. I started flipping through the possibilities and eventually I started seeing how the current scene I'm working on could play out...how it would affect this and this scene and make THIS scene fit better... How I could plant the seeds for some later stuff and, in the end, everything would tie together SO much better.
Why didn't I think of all this before??
Simple. My brain was. I just wasn't listening. :)
So yay. Here's to taking the leap even when you don't want to.
Kill your darlings. Kill 'em.
2 comments:
This is what I'm kind of going through right now.
I feel like I'm trying to push my story into something it doesn't want to be, but I'm very afraid to take out pieces that I've done so far.
Glad that you're happy with the new beginning - that's awesome!
Tara,
Yeah, cutting is never easy. It hurts. I guess my advice would be is to cut out the bits you don't think work -- but save them. Stretch yourself and see where the story takes you. You may be really surprised.
The thing is, and I have to tell myself this ALL the time. If you love what you have, then it is completely possible to come up with other scenes/chapters, etc. that you love just as much. Sometimes it just takes cutting those ties and letting go.
You can do it!
And thanks. :)
Jen
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