Back to the Drawing Board…
Well, not completely, but back a chapter. I thought I new just what I was going to do with the Land Stud, but sadly, I was making him seem a bit morally questionable. And he’s better than that! He does not deserve me besmirching his character.
Let me walk you through how I analyzed this, and why I (or really, my characters) ultimately decided to go in another direction:
Option 1: Accomplished my goal of forcing them together, but did cause question as to my hero’s morals. Also, my heroine got to stay in her ‘business is my life’ mode, which is great, and it’s very her, but I think this is the point where we see more from her. She’s more than just her ambition. Who is she when she’s at home and she’s by herself and there is no business matter at hand? That’s important, and the reader needs to see some of that, otherwise I think she’ll come off as being a bit cold!
So then I thought of option 2: also accomplishes the goal of proximity but, makes my hero look morally shiny, gives him a chance to have some justified, alphafied raginess at the media. Also, forces my heroine to think beyond strictly business and gives us a window into who she is.
Ultimately, this small thing doesn’t change the whole trajectory. But SO much more can be revealed about the characters in this if I go option 2. And I think we should always go with the option that does the most for character!
*sigh* *delete delete delete delete delete delete delete*
Onward and upward, and here’s to a stronger MS!
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I find it sooooo hard to delete, but if its for a stronger ms – it is all for good! Have probably deleted a whole ms between the two wip’s I’ve been working on… soo hard, heartbreaking but sigh, hopefully for the better…
I’ve deleted a whole MS. It’s scary, but can also be liberating. It’s easier for me to do that than to work within constraints that just aren’t working!
And I think this scene is much stronger now…
Maisey, I’m with you. Easier to delete and free yourself of the box huh?
Wow I don’t know if I could delete a whole MS. There’d be crying and chocolate I’m sure lol
Deleting is hard, but I’ve learnt the hard way that it is better after revising the sagging middle of my Desire MS. Once I deleted chapters 6, 7 and 8 instead of tinkering with my characters to make what I already had work, it made a whole lot of sense.
It was hard work, but worth it in the end, I think.
Well, Lacey, technically the full rewrite involved me opening a new doc and saving the old one in another file. I never delete things really. I save everything. I have folders within folders within folders.
Sri, that’s been my experience. Sometimes when what the ed wants is extreme, you have to give yourself a blank canvas or you can’t do your fixes as effectively.
Jackie, that’s it exactly. I had that epiphany right after I really did delete from HVA. Then I just started writing. And it was better. And actually easier than the revising had been.
Yuk on the deletions but yay on the better story. Glad your hero is morally bright and shiny!
Yes, deletion was sad, but I’m just now past all I deleted now, so I’m feeling happier. 😀 Yeah, I love a morally shiny hero. Though my sheikh was SO morally shiny getting him to violate it (which he really needed to do) was just about impossible, so I’m going to give Mr. Andy Whitfield inspired Land Stud some wiggle room.