I have a problem. 949 of them, to be exact. Words. 949 words. An entire scene in my novel that must be cut. It doesn't move the plot forward, doesn't provide critical information or backstory, doesn't help develop my characters or establish their motives… Thus it’s obvious: I must backspace over these 949 carefully chosen, painstakingly crafted words. It will make the story better. More interesting, more exciting, more focused. So what's the problem, you might ask?
If you're a writer, you already know the answer: Because It's A Great F*cking Scene.
We all have scenes that hurt to part with, yet we know we must. And not just scenes. I've had my heartbroken over nixed one-liners and redlined dialogue and even an entire shelved novel. So why is it so painful to cut something we know will make our manuscript better?
Well, we get attached to those little nuggets. They're our babies. We brought them into this world. Who cares if that scene or paragraph or line doesn’t “do” much? It's so cute. And it sounds just like me, and it's clever, and I worked so hard on it, and I just love it, okay?
Also, writers…well, we like words. Like, really like them. We work hard getting them down on paper. We can be straight up hoarders of them. Oh, but I might want to use this metaphor one day... I know this dialogue is a little long, but it might come in handy later... I can't just throw a perfectly good scene away! It's like that one garment (or twenty) you keep in your closet because it was expensive or because it's nicely tailored or because it's your color. You know you’ll never wear it because it requires a strapless bra, but you convince yourself you can’t get rid of it because it's so darn cute. Or expensive, or whatever.
And let's not forget how wasteful deleting perfectly good words is. I mean, there are writers-blocked novelists in New York and struggling screenwriters in L.A. that would kill for those words, and we're just going to throw nine-hundred-and-forty-nine of them out in the trash? Because they're not driving the plot forward? Must be nice to be able to afford to do that.
Look, I'm not against editing. I take a lot of satisfaction in cutting 500 words out of a bloated chapter or distilling a convoluted paragraph down to a single great sentence. But every once in a while, a great scene or line or beautifully crafted piece of prose comes along that captures my heart, and even though it doesn’t do jack for my manuscript, it hurts, knowing what I must do. But I’m a writer, so I do it anyway. I pull on my big girl pants and I press that backspace key and I show that gorgeous, useless passage who's boss.
Usually.
But sometimes, every once in a while, I leave it in. Because It's A Great F*cking Scene.
Writer friends: how do you get yourself to part with a darling? What tricks do you have? I’ll go first in the comments.
Hey Marisa!
For me, my ability to cut whole scenes, chapters, and storylines is my writing superpower. I know not many people are willing to kill their darlings and I’ve proved myself over and over that I can. I think it’s the excitement of bringing out the best of my story that pulls me through.
I ended up here after reading about your long way to publishing. I’m starting my trad journey and it’s uplifting to see that, as we say in Spanish, quien la sigue, la consigue (if you keep at it you’ll get there).
Your novel sounds exciting! Good luck!