There’s this passage I wrote in the original draft and it’s always been one of my favourites, describing how Reggie and Colin, being born only 10 months apart, slept in the same crib for many years. A custom-made crib with cut-out moons and stars. Reggie remembers the comfort of having her brother's breath on over her face, how warm her hands felt tucked beneath his pillow.
As I have moved through the revision process, the passage has been modified and shortened to suit the evolving prose, but today I made the decision to cut it entirely.
And it’s a good thing.
However lovely a passage it might be, it is not contributing to the action of Chapter 7 in any way. Sometimes you have to let go of passages in order to give your story greater truth. When I originally wrote that passage, I was still discovering who Reggie and Colin were. Although this passage allowed me to gain greater insight into the motivations of – and the relationship between – my characters, it is not necessary to the storytelling.
I am sad to see it go, but I am more pleased by my improved ability to make good writerly judgments. It was a hard lesson to learn, but my vision is getting clearer every day.
Tranquillement, pas vite, you know what I mean?
As I have moved through the revision process, the passage has been modified and shortened to suit the evolving prose, but today I made the decision to cut it entirely.
And it’s a good thing.
However lovely a passage it might be, it is not contributing to the action of Chapter 7 in any way. Sometimes you have to let go of passages in order to give your story greater truth. When I originally wrote that passage, I was still discovering who Reggie and Colin were. Although this passage allowed me to gain greater insight into the motivations of – and the relationship between – my characters, it is not necessary to the storytelling.
I am sad to see it go, but I am more pleased by my improved ability to make good writerly judgments. It was a hard lesson to learn, but my vision is getting clearer every day.
Tranquillement, pas vite, you know what I mean?
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5 comments:
My writing mentor recently reminded me that a novel has its own internal logic, and everything that does not conform to that logic, no matter how beautiful it is, must be ruthlessly cut away.
Sigh.
So why are we so attached to mere strings of words?
Maybe because they are part of you...
Can't wait to read your book :)-
I would rather cut off a limb than cut out a passage I loved. Damn, I would make it fit. And that, my friends, is why I am not a published author, but rather, a mere institutional wordsmith.
But such a lovable institutional wordsmith...
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