During a previous NaNoWriMo, I became incredibly ill during the second week. It was never diagnosed, despite multiple trips to the doctor. However, I suspect I had contracted mono, due to the fatigue that was ever-present for 2-3 months after. I continued writing during the illness, attempting to power through the exhaustion and malaise, but most of what I wrote ended up being unusable. I realized this when I sat down to edit over the summer.
I had written many extended scenes full of fun details and quirky dialogue, but all those words, line after line, served only to introduce one idea or a brief event. Better to cut to the chase, fit that single idea or event into the story another way.
Farewell, 10,000 words or more...
Those chapters are now trimmed from the novel, to be included on my website as bonus content. I hope my readers will enjoy these "deleted scenes" that take them beyond the novel, further into the lives of Dek Sundowner, Mer Pampero, and Shanna Tramontane, even if the storytelling did not push the plot forward enough to remain in the final draft.
What do you do with the scenes you excise from your work? Re-purpose them elsewhere? Say goodbye and banish them to the trash forever? Tell me what you like to do.
Remember, tough but tender is an editor's love,
Ren D.
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