Deleted Scenes

I was with a friend, watching a favourite movie of ours that had recently come out on disc. He’d seen it and had watched the deleted and extended scenes, which was the main reason we caught up.

As a writer, I’m often having to delete scenes, or shorten them because they are simply too long. Usually I can watch an extended or deleted scene from a movie and be okay. not that I wasn’t okay with these ones, I just got to thinking how I approach my writing.

Why did they shorten a particular scene? Why did the delete a scene? The endless question. The way the movie is as we see it is quite fine with me. the parts removed didn’t really make that much of a difference.

Why do I delete or shorten a scene? When I was in a writing group many years ago (which I miss), the instructor once said that if a scene doesn’t move the story forward, the consider removing it. That thought has been a guiding principle in all I write now. Everything must move the story forward. Now, sometimes that movement might be slow, but as long as we move forward with the storyline, then it’s a good scene.

Sometimes I do write too much and I need to go back and make it more concise. Sometimes I need to make it longer because the information is too sparse, or I have jumped along too quickly.

Deleting work is always hard to do as you feel like you are taking away part of yourself. We certainly created it, we can also take it away. At the end of the process, we all want the work to be the cleanest, neatest, most adventurous, and whatever else we want it to be. Deleted scenes are part of that process.

Being eight days into NaNo (at the time of writing). I am constantly adding and deleting, despite the fact that NaNo is all about writing. I have become used to going backwards and forwards when I write. I’ll write some, and if I don’t like it, I’ll delete it, or re-write it.

Never be afraid to delete a scene or two. If you really can’t delete it, then copy it a file for use at a later date, or even in another story. Deletion can try and bring you down, but if you allow it be the tool to make your work even better, then it becomes a powerful friend.

Write, write, and write some more. Every now and then delete.