Yesterday I finished the outline for the new version of my manuscript. After working on the first draft for years, I finally realized (or more like had to accept) that there was a whole section that needed to be taken out. It’s a big section, roughly a quarter of the current draft, and containing one of my favorite characters in the story, but when I read the whole thing start to finish with a critical eye, there was no way to gloss over the fact that, without that whole section, the story wouldn’t change. Yes, there are elements in that section I want to keep, but nothing that I can’t rework to happen in a different context.
Listen, it tore me apart to do that. Writing that section, all of it happening in Ireland, was really fun to write eleven years ago. The character that lives wholly in that section, I absolutely loved her and wanted to keep. It just made no sense to keep it. Even if it meant losing a significant amount of words written, it was the right thing to do for the story.
That said, I am excited because I have a new outline that keeps the core story I wanted to tell, and has room for more character development. Yes I have lots of new content to write, and yes I have to edit existing sections to fit the new story, but I’m looking forward to it. I will finish this novel. I will publish this novel. Giving up is not an option.
And the character I had to edit out? She’ll be back in her own novel, which I already have half-written.
The Daily Highmoon 