Friday, May 6, 2011

A critical moment for the WIP

I'm in the messy middle of the follow up to Chasing Filthy Lucre. I've been thinking about the story a lot lately, mostly because I don't think I like it all that much. I mean, It's fine. It moves the overall story arc along. It serves its purpose, but I want it to do more than that. This one needs to be better than Chasing Filthy Lucre. The action needs to be turned up -- crazier, more exciting. Right now, it's not those things. There are a few fun parts, but it doesn't move fast enough just yet. I've printed out what I've written so far -- about 12,000 words -- and am reading it. I am starting to think that the best thing to do may be to scratch it all and rethink. Start over. Come up with a better followup that will move the overall story forward but be a little more action-packed than what I've got now. I think the key is going to be whether or not I'm comfortable abandoning 12,000 words of work.

I've deleted big chunks of stories before. Even abandoned pieces after a few thousand words. But I've never just given up on something after I get this far in. That's a lot of work down the drain.

If you're a writer, what's your biggest delete moment? Mine's looking like it will be about 12,000 words.

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