Yesterday, I was having a conversation with a friend about writing and for the first time, I explained my novel to her. Well, she made the comment that it might have too much going on, but she wasn’t sure as it wasn’t her genre. However, what she said, confirmed a nagging concern that I’ve had for a while and I went to bed wondering where I could cut. As of this morning I am still no closer to answering that question, but she also loosely quoted a well-known author, “you can fix crap, but you can’t fix a blank page”. Soooo I’m going to keep going and then reassess at the end.
If you’ve been in this situation, what did you do? Or what do you think I should do?
I AM in your situation so allow me to weigh in. Now granted, you are writing a very different genre, so my advice may be less helpful.
The conventional wisdom is to cut things that don’t serve the story. Or at least serve it well. My first big cut, since finishing the first draft, came a few weeks ago. My main character had a friend come to visit, because I felt he needed a confidant. She was very interesting, one of the few female characters in the book, but she really only showed up once. The reason for this was, as my MC delved deeper into the plot, another character naturally became his confidant. Therefore, the friend had to go. So I had to cut, to eliminate the redundancy. This was harder than I expected, not just because I liked that character, but because she had a lot to do in her one chapter. By cutting her out, I was able to add some extra life to my other characters which has really worked out well.
I tend to think of that particular cut as a “trunk song” A trunk song is a song that is written for the show of a musical, but is later cut. The name comes from the idea that it is put away in a trunk, which may be reworked into another show. But those trunk songs are often really important to the building process of creating the narrative. Ideas are explored, and the creators learn a lot about their character as a result, but eventually those lessons are better expressed in some other way.
I think a lot of the material I originally wrote, was useful for me as an author, but not necessary for the reader. I completely cut my entire first chapter, which was all about my character preparing to do something. Now my book starts when the action starts, which is better, but I wouldn’t know who that person was, had I not originally written that first chapter. I had to learn to take it on faith, that people would read my first chapter, and that would help them get to know the MC little by little, instead of me handing him up on a silver platter.
So my advice is cut what is either redundant, or what is not really necessary for the reader. But don’t lament to badly, characters/scenes may be reworked into another novel, and the discoveries you made, will always be useful to you in some way.
Logically, I know this, but I’m looking at cutting a secondary plot…so you can guess how much work that would be. And I’m not sure that cutting it would make it less complicated or a better story (a question you asked in one of your post). I like the trunk show analogy. I hadn’t heard of it.
Thanks.
So what do you feel the secondary plot does for the story? Maybe that would help determine whether it is cuttable?
It resolves several loose ends and I don’t want to leave the reader hanging, so they would have to be in there somewhere. Maybe, I could find another place to insert them. What I’m worried about is the conference in April. I’m not sure I can make all the changes, polish it, write a query and write a synopsis before April 19th, when I’m scheduled to pitch to two agents and an editor. I really want to see this through and I feel that if I cancel those appointments that down the road, I’ll think I sabotaged myself into quitting. ???
You should not cancel those appointments.
Do you have BETA readers at all? I’ve found my beta readers (all of whom are friends and therefore bias) have helped me out a lot, when you look at their combined effort.
I split my beta readers into two groups:
Reader A: A reader who will receive 25 page submissions to them, and will provide feedback.
Reader B: A reader who will receive the entire manuscript once it had undergone a full round of editing. They will then receive a deadline, at which time I will ask them if they completed reading it. If so, I’ll ask for general thoughts and notes. If not, I’ll ask them to explain how far they went, and whether the reason they did not finish was due to the text or just life.
Although I’ve only been dealing with group A so far. It has helped me a great deal.
Currently, I have two beta readers, but I quit giving them chapters because of all of the changes I was making. Since, it was a mystery, I didn’t want them to miss the clues and therefore conclude that it didn’t work. I think it is a great idea to split them into two groups, but with my limited number, not sure if I can swing that. However, I do have one more reader that is willing to do a technical edit on it as she is a technical reader. How many readers do you have?
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I have 8 in group A and 10 in group B.
Wow, you are so blessed.
Yes I am, but none of them are professionals. Some of them are people I met in high school. But I wanted a wide sample, since my book is generally being targeted to a small audience (LGBT fiction) i wanted to know if the story might speak to others. I actually don’t have any LGBT readers except my husband, who agreed (begrudgingly) to read it as stage B.
I had to laugh, when you said that you’re husband begrudgingly agreed to read it, because I don’t even think mine would do that. As for professionals, most of the time it still comes down to preference. So, right now we can only keep plugging along.
Well…I think he agreed to read it because everyone else has. Also…he works as an editor in journalism. So….it is something he does all day.
Wow, what an awesome resource…so did his feedback cause problems?