Revising | When Do You Delete Scenes?
Good morning all you lovely people,
So great to be back here this morning. I hit a snag with posting last week, but I am back on track this week. Let’s dive right in!
How do you know when to delete a scene during revisions? It can often be hard to determine whether to hit delete or fix it up. Not just that, it can be very difficult to find the courage to delete a scene you loved but wasn’t doing anything for the plot.
Here are some tips to help:
Does it serve a purpose?
Does it show change in the character?
Does it show us something new about the character? Or reveal something new and important about the plot of the story?
Does it move the plot forward?
Do the characters do anything actually productive?
Do you learn something new about any of the characters or the story’s main question?
Does it answer any questions the reader might have?
These are all very good reasons to cut a scene. If the scene has no purpose then it isn’t serving the story and will only bog down the plot.
However, if this is the case, you could still save a scene you really love. You need to add in something that makes that scene important. A plot twist or something important about the character or their backstory. Something that could make the character change their mind or some twist that pushes their goal too far out of reach. Something to make it necessary for the plot.
Now, another thing you can do if nothing can be added to the scene is take your favourite parts of the scene and place them into another one where they fit well. Sometimes it’s the setting that makes things tricky when it comes to the plot. If your character is too far away from their next destination in the plot, then you need to move them closer.
You can bring back to life your favourite parts of the scene you love and make it work in another setting, one that is closer to where your protagonist needs to be next.
I know how hard it is to delete a scene you love. Especially as a beginner. You fell in love with everything you wrote when you finished your first novel. But now it’s time to trim the fat and sometimes there is a lot of it. But it does get easier. And the more you work at it, the easier it is to spot when a scene isn’t working.
Just the other day, I had to completely rewrite a scene becasue my protagonist sounded like a completely different, excessively whiny version of herself and I hate her in that scene. So I changed the scene so she was more overwhelmed and less whiny. I knew immediately as I read over it again that I hated the scene and her in it. But the scene was necessary for what came next so I had to rewrite the whole thing, keeping only my favourite lines.
Anyway, that is all for me this morning. I wish you well with your revisions and scene cutting. All is not lost, if you really cannot let go of a scene because you think it’s good, change it so it fits into the story you’re trying to tell and others will love it too! Happy reading and writing! Until next time.
Celine Rose Maire
