Ask The Author– What Parts Of Your Writing Get Edited Out?

April was an exhausting month. A lot of it was the good kind of exhausting, but some of it I wish I could have edited out. Speaking of editing, that brings us to this month’s question for the author (me).

What parts of your writing get edited out?

Besides the obvious awkward sentences or inconsistencies, or telling rather than showing, in my first drafts, I tend to write a lot of meandering sections while I try to figure out how to get where I’m going. These tend to be full of mundane activities or conversations that don’t really add much interest. Once in a while, they will be fun or interesting conversations or adventures but they don’t add much to the plot itself.

Another thing I do a lot in my first drafts is writing sections of story that explore my characters and setting. This can be good if it really contributes to the character arc or plot progression, but often it just ends up distracting. I usually really like these parts, but for the sake of the story, I have to chop them. Some of them make fun short stories later on though.

The other things that I often find myself cutting out are sections where I find myself giving my characters similar problems or emotions I happen to be going through at the time so I can work through them using my characters. While it can be therapeutic and productive for me, it often works as another distraction to the actual story and so it usually ends up getting cut.

In the end, my final drafts can end up looking a fair bit different than my first drafts. As hard as it is to cut some of those things, the stories are better because of it.

What kinds of scenes would you keep or cut in books you read?