Wednesday, December 3, 2014

IWSG: With Apologies to Kenny Rogers.

I was raised on country music, thanks to my mom, and some of my earliest memories involve car rides with that music playing.  I remember Kenny Rogers's "The Gambler" very well, as even then, I understood what the song meant.  As much as I could at four years old.

How does this relate to writing?  Oddly enough. . . .

For all that I exulted two weeks ago about how well one of my plots was going, when I was nearly done with the thing, I found myself reluctant to work on it.  While I'd gone through most of the book in a reasonable amount of detail, the entire third act was two short paragraphs, and something about it didn't feel right.

It should have been working, I knew that.  The story is one I want to tell.  I've had a great deal of fun plotting this thing and figuring out how to make it all work.  And I was so certain that the scene that made up the first half of the third act would be absolutely brilliant, hilarious and action-packed and heartwarming all at once.  No matter what, I wanted to hold onto that scene; it was one of the first I'd come up with when plotting the book, ever since I first knew the story featured intrigue and blackmail and airships.  Yet despite knowing where the story was going, I felt like I was hitting a wall whenever I tried to think on those three important words: "What happens next?"

As I'm sure some of you have guessed by now, that should-be-awesome scene was the problem.

Part of the problem with writing is that things change along the way.  What should be the story's Crowning Moment of Awesome may become the last triumphant moment the heroes have before everything goes wrong.  That minor character who only existed to help with some world-building might stand up to become a main character as they're being written.  Someone who's supposed to live through the book might decide to stab a dragon in the back.  Things like that.

Far too often, the solution is to cut something you really wanted to keep - to fold, so to speak.  And sometimes that's enough to make you want to walk away.

I was fortunate enough to figure out something that works a great deal better.  But it never would have happened if I hadn't taken the time to go over what I had in mind and recognize that the problem was a scene that I thought had to be part of the story.  No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't hold onto it.

In the end, though, the story will be better for it.  The story feels right without it.  And that's what matters most.  Here's hoping that, whenever I actually write this, the gamble pays off.

18 comments:

  1. Sucks when you have to let a great scene go. The original ending for my third book hit the can. I still have the scene saved. (One of the rare times I saved one.)
    At least you figured it out and can move forward again.

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    1. I save all kinds of things; the plot document for this book has everything I cut. But yeah, it was good to get past that and move on, and the new scene works really well.

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  2. It's never easy to kill our darlings, but sometimes it's necessary.

    IWSG #151 until Alex culls the list again.

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    1. I never liked that phrase, even if it does make sense. Calling a plot or a sentence or a phrase a "darling" just seems off to me. *shrug*

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  3. Oh my gosh… YES… those moments when you KNOW something isn't going to work, but yet you've already put so much time and effort into building that something… and then you discover what would be better, but that only means tearing everything apart and building everything up from scratch…

    We're crazy. It's the only explanation. So difficult. But you're right… so worth it in the end… if we ever get there…

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    1. Better a scene than an entire book; gods know I've been there too many times. >_< And yes. We're all mad here.

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  4. Oh yes, I've had the revelation many times, especially in revision, that a beloved scene no longer works with the changed storyline. The only way to deal with the pain is: Write a new beloved scene.

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    1. Very true. ^_^ The new one is a lot more dangerous and leads to better character moment, so hopefully it'll go well.

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  5. And now I have the song in my head.... :)

    How many people just leave the scene in because they love it? We have to do what's best for the story and it sounds like you did just that. Great work!

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    1. Thank you. ^_^ And yeah, as much as it sucks to cut something you love, doing what's best for the story is most important.

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  6. Oh man, I hate it when that happens!! It's definitely happened to me. That idea that started the whole thing in the first place, that grand shining wonderful hilarious heartwarming idea, that suddenly just sticks out like a damn sore thumb once you've finished developing the thing. Ugh. That's when you thank it for inspiring you, murder it, and put its sad dead body in a file to try to use somewhere else. Our poor darlings...

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    1. Eeyup. ^_^ I had to convince myself that the book could happen without this scene - hell, most of the book had happened before that scene, so I just needed an adequate replacement. I don't think it's something I'll be able to use elsewhere, though, as it's very particular to the characters and setting.

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  7. I know what you mean. In fact, I've had a number of projects get completely hijacked by characters. I don't know if it makes it better, but it makes things very interesting. And then--THEN--you have to figure out how to give the hijacked story some structure. Sigh. Writing is so hard sometimes.

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    1. When I said "That minor character who only existed to help with some world-building might stand up to become a main character as they're being written", I was in fact talking about Alexi. So I know what you mean. :P

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  8. Mason, you just rained on my parade! "Far too often, the solution is to cut something you really wanted to keep." I feel like you're speaking to me. I have this opening paragraph for a novel that I LOVE but I have this feeling that I'm going to have to cut it and figure out another way to start the story. And I hate that I have to do it but to compromise the entire story for that one paragraph is the tail wagging the dog and we just can't have that. I'm glad you realized what you needed to do because in doing so, you've helped me figure out what I need to do in my story. And love the title of this post, btw:)

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    1. Thank you, I'm really glad to have helped. ^_^ And yes, it's really rough, especially when it's at the very beginning of the book. I've been there - most first chapters, I write them telling myself that I'll end up rewriting them later. Doesn't make it any easier, but at least I know that going in. Oi.

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    1. Thanks! This was just another generic "here's how I solved a problem and you can too" post until I realized it needed something extra. I'm still not sure how I figured out that extra was Kenny Rogers.

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