Linking up with Kelly and the rest!
A common expression in writing is “kill your darlings,” meaning, get rid of the precious little bits of your work-in-progress that you don’t really need. As darling as the super-descriptive scene is to the writer, it’s probably extraneous. These aren’t Dickens days, when writers got paid by the word (that explains Ulysses…), so all those cute sentences and words…they’re up for the chop. Here are seven deleted words, lines, etc. from Ten Commandments for Kissing Gloria Jean.
[1]
I did not want a Table of Contents…official publishing style be darned!
[2]
Fun story–these four words turned into an entire sentence better describing the birthday fun.
[3]
Because that is not a word a young 14-year-old would use.
[4]
This killed darling actually came back to life, but from a different version of the Bible, because the translation with the word “trustworthy” better fits some of the plot’s themes.
[5]
The copy editor’s note said that this line repeated what was already shown in the story. And showing, not telling is good!
[6]
This line was cut because the timeline made no sense. Yes, I had my characters’ class schedules all figured out.
[7]
I was adding a detail for a very minor character, but I couldn’t really include it without adding much more, and that would have detracted from my point, my story, so, bye bye baby!
Want to see what got left? Enter to win one of FIVE signed copies of my book Ten Commandments for Kissing Gloria Jean in this Valentine’s Day giveaway. Only a day left! (ending 11:59 pm on 2/13) Celebrate authentic love!
Britt Leigh 