During the revision process, writers might realize that scenes or chapters must be cut in some places, and added in others. Editing a manuscript this way means tearing out pieces of the carefully crafted tapestry of your work. In a post on the Writers Helping Writers blog, Jami Gold offers her advice on repairing those rends, so that your story remains a cohesive whole. “Every piece of the story is affected by what came before and likewise affects what comes after,” Gold writes. “Plot revelations and character epiphanies don’t happen in a vacuum.”
Before anything is changed, Gold advises writers to consider what’s important in a scene that needs to be removed and ensure those still-relevant plot points or character moments are incorporated elsewhere. For scenes to be added, she suggests carefully considering why this new scene is important and must be added.
Gold also offers input on how to fit new scenes into a manuscript or repair holes left by deletions. She also provides a handy checklist of items to review once the immediate editing is completed, such as references to deleted scenes or foreshadowing that goes nowhere.
Photo by Javid Naderi on Unsplash
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