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Little Folder of Love (in Which we Shelter the Darlings from William Faulkner)

10/19/2014

7 Comments

 
When I’m working on revising/editing a novel, I need to have what I call the “Little Folder of Love.” It’s a folder that sits on your desktop, visible but not distracting, where you put all the scenes you’ve needed to cut. All the little bits of characterization, all those sweet or funny, poignant or thought-provoking scenes that flesh out a story but do not move it along. In a big novel big (124,000+ words) or of this nature (Epic Fantasy or Gothic thriller), you must be a butcher, cutting things that impeded the rush of the plot to its inexorable climax. In a word, you have to Kill your Darlings.

William Faulkner coined that phrase almost a century ago and it still rings true for writers today. We love these little scenes; we’ve invested such time and attention into crafting them. They are vignettes of character and mood, comedy or pathos and we love them. Sometimes even, the writing is surprisingly brilliant. So what if they have to go? What do we do with them? Can we really kill them, as Faulkner urges? Doesn’t that diminish our author’s voice, that intuitive stamp of individuality that marks our work as different from someone else’s? Are we really so callous as to highlight and delete something that may have consumed hours, if not days of our lives?

I can’t. Not yet, anyway. Hence my Little Folder of Love. My agent, Jennifer Udden, suggested it to me during a phone conversation regarding the editing process. Set up a folder to house all the scenes because you may never know when they might work somewhere else. Perhaps they will become a little novelette of their own, after the original has taken off. Imagine little snippets of story from the world of Harry Potter – scenes of Hermione and Ron agonizing over textbooks, or Hagrid feeding a happy hungry griffon, or Harry bonding with Sirius Black over tea and treacle. I could release a collection of such scenes later or on my website as little extras, or bonus material, or teasers.

So I did it. I made that Little Folder of Love and it contains scenes now from all three Upper Kingdom books as well as Cold Stone & Ivy 1 & 2. (Those I’m beginning to call the Empire of Steam, because I have many series that can/will take place in that ‘verse. It makes my world-building brain very happy.) It also came in very handy during the writing of CS&I 2: The Crown Prince, because I could move scenes where they needed to go, pick and choose snippets of conversation and manipulate the story arc in a way that made me very proud. I am growing up and so is my technique. Stephen King would be proud too. I don't know yet about Faulkner.

But sometimes I just go and look into that Little Folder. It makes me happy. I can read scenes and the characters talk to me all over again, tell me why they need to live and how I am the only one who can give them life. It makes me wonder if someday, there will be fanfic written of Kerris and Fallon the same way it’s written of Hermione and Ron. Will there be Kirah’s? (Shippers of Kirin and Sherah?) Or what about shippers of Ivy and Christien instead of Ivy and Sebastien? Will they begin to have adventures in other people’s minds and take on lives of their very own, lives that I will ultimately have no control over? Will someone be bold enough to connect the Upper Kingdom with the Empire of Steam and write something that blows even my world-building mind apart at the seams? What a Pandora’s Box this folder has become!

That’s why Faulkner killed them. He didn’t have laptops or folders other than the paper kind. He couldn’t afford the real estate that would be required to house those scenes. Easier to draw a red line through them and move on. And there are times when I have done it – highlighted an entire paragraph and hesitated a moment before clicking Delete. Then you gasp, release a deep cleansing breath and move on. It really is the best way to go, when all is said and done. But I’m not there, not yet. There is still too much residual emotion. The brain still wars with the heart.

So for now, the Little Folder sits in the top left hand corner of the screen, filled with scenes that I’m glad are still there. I can see Faulkner rolling his eyes, I can hear his long-suffering sigh but louder than these are the laughing/fighting/cursing of those characters in that folder, those extraneous scenes, those useless Darlings of my literary mind. I don’t have it in me to kill them just yet.

I may need to call on Major Ursa for that.

7 Comments
Anna
10/19/2014 05:35:26 am

You're inviting us to write fan fiction? Mhm, tempting! :-D I'm a bit astonished there is none yet, there are so many interesting side-stories to explore.
I think I'd write a story about Sherah al Shiva and her dark origins, that was one of the most interesting mysteries for me when I read the Tails of the Upper Kingdom.
Or maybe I'd explore the court of the Empress a little. "A Day at Court", starring Kirin, fighting his way through bureaucracy and getting more and more unhinged in the process. ;-) Perhaps adding more perspectives of the same events: the Empress, the Chancellor (a very interesting character, by the way, of whom we learn but little - perfect character to explore! ;-) ).

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H. Leighton Dickson link
10/19/2014 06:19:52 am

Fanfic! Yes, by all means! I think that would be amazing! I don't know how you set up a new category (I've always just written fanfic for existing shows) but I know you can set them up for books now. Definitely something to investigate! ;)

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Anna
10/19/2014 09:02:04 am

I didn't know that there was a specific place where one can collect fan fiction (just seen the link you posted on facebook) - have to look into that! :-)
I just knew that some authors read fan fiction and sometimes select something to be posted on their blog or a special blog set up for those stories. I'm new to *this* kind of writing, I have to admit. :P

H. Leighton Dickson link
10/19/2014 10:03:56 am

Yes, I actually did a bit of Fanfiction writing under the pen name, 221b Baker Street. I got so much encouragement from readers that I decided to try my hand at novel writing, so I owe my 'push' to Fanfiction.net! ;)

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mary lou rankin
10/19/2014 10:19:43 am

Congratulations! I am going to look for your books on IndleFire. On Amason.com. Sometimes I think of what I could write, but then I think I might not do it correctly..

It does sound like fun, writing fan fiction.. I have no idea where to find fan fiction, you see.

I sometimes buy "real" books, because I like to hold them. Why not?
Other times I have books put on my KindleFire because I could put so many there. Sometimes I visit my children, in New Jersey, and Indiana. Would you let me know how to buy your books? How exciting. It is too late for me to write any book. <sigh> I am grandmother to 20, counting four "greats".

Reply
H. Leighton Dickson link
10/19/2014 11:01:12 am

Hey Mary Lou, You can buy my books on Amazon.com (go check out the page under Books) but I also have real print books too. If you wanted, I could send you a copy for free if you'd like! Email me with your address and I'd be happy to send you a copy (I too love real books!) And being a grandmother is NOT too late! If you feel the story in your bones, you MUST write it down! Please do it. Your grandchildren will be so proud of you! My email is hdickson62@gmail.com. Send me your address and I'll send you a book! Chat soon! HLD

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Bard Constantine link
10/20/2014 11:56:09 am

I've done the same with large cuts from my novels. In some cases I've been able to rework them into the novel, or sometimes not. But if the writing is good, I consider them worth saving, because you never know...

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