What to do with good work that just doesn't quite fit?

[Philosopher]

The way I understand it, and the way my WIP is going, is that you write hundreds of thousands of words, some full chapters some fragments that may link in later, just basically whatever your head wants to put into words, and then you craft the pieces you have into a novel.

Heavy cutting takes place, you have to drop some pieces you really like because they don't seem totally relevant to the plot / main story.

What do you do with these parts? The parts you read through and think: yeah I like what I've done there, shame it's a bit irrelevant to the tangent I want to pursue...

Do you just accept the loss and continue with the tangent you are pursuing, or do you try to work every good bit of writing you've done into the novel, for the sake of not wasting good work?

I'm torn between the two.

[springs]

I try to get it in somewhere else if it fits, otherwise I get rid of it and go and lie in a darkened room for a wee while.

[Vertigo]

I suspect your second option of working it in would be very tempting but also very dangerous. The story should dictate the writing not the other way round.

I would be inclined to keep the writing stored away somewhere. I have a kind of database of snippets, quotes, ideas, words etc. some my own, some taken from books I've read. Pieces like you have described would get consigned to this database, to be possibly resurrected and reworked into some other more appropriate project at a later date.

[Venusian Broon]

Philosopher, your style of writing is not mine, hence I may not be the best person to give you advice! i.e. I've plotted out every scene in reasonable detail in my WiP after a good year+ of thinking it all through: plot-, character-, setting-wise and a bit of a dose of serious worldbuilding. Thus this dilemma of going off on a tangent really doesn't occur (I do write screeds of purple prose and get carried away quite a lot, but it's not really the same thing )

But I think you're approaching it from the wrong angle. Always strive for good writing, yes; but at the end of the day to capture the readers attention, you've got to produce a clear, well structured novel. So let's put it this way: Do you want to sacrifice a good novel by including needless irrelvancies, however well written they are?

So I'd be aggressive in your cutting.

It does depend on what these extra parts are. Can they be worked into short stories, a part of another novel or some other form? Nothing need really go to waste.

[The Judge]

If they don't work within the novel, they have to go, no matter how well written. Think of the book like a spaceship -- its integrity is the most important thing. If you have to sacrifice a few red-shirts, no matter how attractive, in order for the ship to continue on its mission, you do it. You don't kill them off without thought, of course -- and you do your best to give them a role elsewhere, but if it's necessary they get pushed out the airlock.

Don't throw the deleted bits away entirely, though, because you may find a use for them somewhere else, ie in the sequel or another story. I keep a folder of deleted bits. Some are bare fragments, where I've changed my mind about the wording, but I'm hanging onto the old in case I change my mind again; some are passages which just don't fit or which I've had to delete in order to increase the pace of the book.

NB Good work is never wasted even if it isn't used. If nothing else it's taught you to craft a pleasing sentence or a clever scene, and that will come in useful elsewhere.

[I, Brian]

Any really good bits you can carry over into sequels, either directly or rewritten for the context of it.

Whether it's a sub-plot or a piece of dialogue, you can carry it over as required. And if you believe in such excerpts that much, you can then have a higher degree of confidence that the sequel retains some of your quality as the first.

[Abernovo]

I have a document named 'Dump File', possibly similar to The Judge's folder. Some of the passages are bits that didn't fit, but I really like and might use again. Others are scenes and background info-passages that may be helpful later, but weren't needed.

That said, I try to be merciless. A passage has to be special to get into the Dump File, or at least special to me. Otherwise, I'm merciless and it gets binned if it doesn't fit the story.

[allmywires]

If I've written a scene I particularly like the feel of, I'll save it in another file. About half the time I work it back in at some point, though usually it ends up butchered beyond recognition (thus defeating the point, but oh well...)

[stephen.samuels]

I have a notes file but honestly a novel needs to be clearly plotted from the off succeed. Save those bit though they may come in for something else

[AnyaKimlin]

I upset many writers with my attitude to it, but that is what my delete key is for. My usual technique is 1. Write draft, 2. Read draft, 3. Bin draft - start again from scratch. I find that gets rid of most of the rubbish. When I am writing getting the story the best I can and as tight as I can is my goal.

[stephen.samuels]

I think theres something to be said for that, it is a good way getting the crap out of the way

[springs]

Originally Posted by stephen.samuels

I have a notes file but honestly a novel needs to be clearly plotted from the off succeed. Save those bit though they may come in for something else

Dang, that's where I've been going wrong. I don't entirely agree with this. Some of us plot in meticulous detail, some of us, like Anya, do the plotting by writing it (guilty in this corner). Provided at some stage we sit back and discipline ourselves, it doesn't matter which way we do it. In fact, the write it and bin it takes us nearer the one million words...

and now we're all agreed, cool.

[AnyaKimlin]

As Springs has witnessed with my madcap stories there is no way I plan them lol I don't even plan a genre most of the time. Rewriting it several times has a similar effect but allows my characters to lead the way. I don't think twice about removing over 40,000 words because my brown peregrine falcon became a white gyr falcon. The falcon is an important part of the story so I needed to change the whole landscape of the world to allow it hide.

[ventanamist]

'Murder your darlings.' That's hard enough. Sometimes you've got to murder the darling that inspired the whole story, not because it's bad writing, just because it doesn't fit there any more. We have to be ruthless. If you don't want to end up with blood on your hands, don't write.

[Hammerhand]

Originally Posted by ventanamist

'Murder your darlings.' That's hard enough. Sometimes you've got to murder the darling that inspired the whole story, not because it's bad writing, just because it doesn't fit there any more. We have to be ruthless. If you don't want to end up with blood on your hands, don't write.

Ah, you beat me to it!. Murder your darlings is an old saying that didn't mean a lot to me when I first heard it but I understand it more now. Murdering your darlings doesn't mean killing people - just thought I would put that out there - When someone told me that I should strike a line through my favourite bits of my writing I was somewhat incredulous. How could this possibly make a better story? I have come to understand that the things that you write that you like the most are in all likelihood quite self indulgent. You marvel in your own creative brilliance at the scene you've just created, detailed, precise, beautiful. The problem is, if it does not contribute to the journey, no matter how good it is, it is wasted words and your reader's time, picking at his patience and possibly loosing him in the process (or her of course). I tried murdering my darlings as I was directed by my tutor and what was left was a more direct, compact and ultimately better read. If you are writing just for yourself then this is fine and if you enjoy doing it then by all means, that's what you should do. If you are writing something for other people to read however, then as hard as it is, you need to cut the self indulgent prose right out of there and think about your reader. It is your reader who is supposed to enjoy your creativity, not you.

Murder your darlings - it makes a lot of sense when you think about it!