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So, today I wound up doing something I reaaaaallly hate doing... I cut a rather sizable chunk of my story. In fact, I can honestly say this is the largest single consecutive piece of a story I've ever cut totaling a whopping 15,000+ words which sets me back to a little over 100,000 words. Ouch. It's rather depressing, but unfortunately it had to be done. The story was headed in a direction I did not like and the only way to back out was to take this rather significant hit. There are parts I may be able to reuse, but most of it is a complete wash.
Sorry had to vent...
Bah! I'm gonna go sulk now. :/
Comments
I can feel your pain.
However it is a part of writing. The worse I've ever personally done was an entire chapter. That was bad enough! My current project has about ten pages of discarded text. Entire scenes that just didn't fit or headed into wrong directions.
Hugs
Grover
removing parts
Generally, I've removed fairly large chunks before, but 15,000 words is probably the worst I've done short of completely abandoning a project. Smaller amounts don't bother me much, but when it gets that high it tends to hit me like a sucker punch to the gut.
Have delightfully devious day,
It sounds like you did _not_
It sounds like you did _not_ cut the story. Cutting the story means that you've taken a completed story, and pulled sections out to condense it down. (Reader's Digest style)
What you've done is exactly what you said you did. You've decided you didn't like the weave of the plot thread, and you're unravelling it back to where you can reuse the yarn.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Perhaps
In the context I was using 'cut', it meant simply "to remove".
Have delightfully devious day,
We all take wrong directions
We all take wrong directions at times, and the ability to recognise that, and slash it out is an important part of good writing.
But it's a mere 15% of the story. So what? Better slash than have it taking you in the wrong direction.
Yes, I realize that and I'm
Yes, I realize that and I'm actually feeling a great deal better about making the cut now... It just hurt to put all that time into something and wind up not even using it.
Have delightfully devious day,