I am so excited. I’ve finally decided on a major cut to my
newest manuscript. Though this blog is supposed to be a writer’s journal, I haven’t
mentioned very much lately about the writing process, or anything else for that
matter. That’s because I’ve been so busy writing, totally involved with my
novel, Hairt Before Dawn, writing and revising again and again.
The first draft was entirely too long, more than 107,000
words, and it is a YA. I learned from my book club that few adults, much less
young adults want to read a book that long. So I’ve been slicing and dicing away
at my precious words, precious to me anyway. Writers are told to take a good
look at their “darlings”, those favorite passages, and kill them. I’ve been
doing that and have reduced the length of Hairt to about 96,000 words by
leaving out what I thought were gripping scenes important to the development of
the protagonist. Still not enough.
I have been carefully studying my main plot and the subplots
that support it, pondering over what and where to cut next. I’m well aware that
anything that doesn’t advance the major plot needs to get the ax, but I couldn’t
see anything not vital to the story. It finally hit me. Last night, in my
twilight zone, not awake and not asleep, it came to me. A minor character had
insinuated herself into too much of the novel, taking way more print that she
deserved at the cost of detouring from the main plot.
Now I cannot wait to get back to the story, and put that
aggressive character in her place, the background. It will take a lot of
cutting and rewriting, but if it leads to a better novel, I’m ready. I’ll just
save the cuts in a file ready to use in a future story, if needed.
Wish me luck!
