Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.
- Napoleon

Monday, July 9, 2007

Rechaptering and Snipped Scenes

AWJ is not ready for editing, and Blink is waiting for my CP and BRs to send back their comments. This leaves Spectacle - or Fear Itself, according to the new filename. Being my first book, I was a complete neophyte. It's chapters are huge, some of the wording is ungainly, and I have rampant unnecessary scenes. (Not that they weren't interesting, but they did little to drive the plot forward.)

So far, I've been tightening the wording, but yesterday I tackled the rechaptering. Not a big deal as tasks go. I have plenty of scene breaks mid-chapter where I can simply plug in a page break and chapter header. The real task lies in the quotes.

Each chapter in Spectacle begins with a quote relevant to the text in the coming chapter, and since I am adding chapters, I now have to find quotes to match. I have a huge quote database, thank goodness, and so far it's been sufficient for my purposes, but scanning through hundreds of quotes to find just the right one is a little time consuming. I spent an hour and a half last night and I'm only a third of the way through the rechaptering process.

In addition to rechaptering, I took out a whole scene I really enjoyed writing and so far, everyone's enjoyed reading. It wasn't pertinent though. (And for those of you reading this who've also read Spectacle, it was the tow-truck scene.) It was one of my daughter's favorite scenes, and she's going to kill me, but it had to be done. That's where the editing hurts. I didn't want to do it, and maybe someday after it becomes a bestseller, the book will be republished with the deleted scenes. Until then, however, it had to go. For the sake of the novel as a whole. *sigh*

Since I'm between writing right now, I'll be hitting Spectacle every night until after I move. I should be able to whip it into shape by this time next week, and then move forward with something else. Maybe a new book, or maybe by then I'll be ready to tackle Blink or AWJ again.

How are things going in your neck of the woods?

7 comments:

Janimé said...

Oooo, now there's an untapped market.

At least I've never seen an "Author's Cut" of a book as I have with a "Director's Cut" of a movie.

Or an appendix of deleted scenes.

I like that idea. Maybe someone will pick up on it.

B.E. Sanderson said...

What gave me the idea was Stephen King's The Stand. The original publication had a lot snipped out of it, and they went back and published the full version in the late '80s. =o)

Let me know if you want to read the snipped version of Spectacle. You were the second (after hubby) to read Spectacle, you can certainly have the honors. =oD

Tia Nevitt said...

Good job on cutting what needs to be cut. I had about 26,000 words worth of cut scenes for novel #2 and I'll be cutting a whole bunch more. Some of it was some pretty cool stuff.

On the bright side, I find myself cutting a lot less for book #3.

Fiona Mackenzie. Writer said...

You are obviously working really hard. Good for you and I am egging you on! Especially interested as I am trying to find quotes for my little chick lit book. I wanted to use record quotes but will have to check copyright etc.
What is your book about?

Fiona

B.E. Sanderson said...

Thanks for stopping by, Fiona. I use mainly quotes from those long-dead. You don't have to worry about infringing on anything that way. Stephen King uses a lot of music quotes, from what I remember, and I know he acknowledges the artists, but I don't know if he obtains permission prior to publication.

Oh, and I added a link to my previous posts where I talk about Spectacle. Enjoy! =o)

B.E. Sanderson said...

Google's having a brainfart. I can't get the darned links to post (and they look fine in the preview window, so it's not me). Try this:

Spectacle

Janimé said...

But of course I want to read the snipped version :)

You've got plenty of time though. I've got to finish with the Count of Monte Cristo (gosh that's a long book), and with the assignment you gave me :)