Deleting Work

[Fyle]

So, I am thinking of deleting a chapter of a WIP because I have decided I want to keep a character alive who I killed off in the chapter. I have decided this WIP will be longer than I planned, and he would make an interesting character throughtout (maybe die at the end, not early on).

To clear my mind, I was thinking of deleting it. Yes, I could back it up and forget about it, and keep it just in case... but I mean for the sake of finalizing the desicion, is deleting ever actually a good idea?

Has anyone done this as a way to push their decision forward and move on?

Is there any value at all in saving it if I am 100% decided to keep this character alive?

All comments are welcome.

Thanks!

 

[CupofJoe]

Personally I try to keep all version of a story.
I try not to delete anything especially if the story is changing and developing so much as yours seems to be.
I archive off my laptop as well as locally on it so once I have a back-up safely stored else where [and usually in two places elsewhere] I might [might] delete the offending text from my working copy/space.
Yes this does mean I can have 3 or 4 version of a WIP to get confused about but if you've called you back-up directories things like "Dead Archive Oct 2014" it fairly easy to keep on top of...
I love going back to old work [sometimes years later] are seeing what I was doing and how my writing has changed or an idea I'd forgotten about but is the spark for something new..

 

[Terry Greer]

There is a risk that if you keep lots of copies then you lose track of what's different about each. I certainly do. But then again I do archive everything - I just know that the only reason I'd ever go back to something is if I lost the most recent version.

 

[stephenspower]

I didn't kill someone off, but I did excise him for a while, so I create a file "Rowan in," then cut him and everything about him entirely. What was interesting is that once he was gone, I was better able to appreciate his role in the story, so I rewrote him back in. I didn't just go back to the previous version, though. I started from scratch and created a much better character. Of course, my editor wanted me to severely cut back the chapter he was in, so I had to do it all over again. I really like the kid now, him and his nine lives (7 left).

 

[Penpilot]

I never delete anything. I use scrivener and it allows me to keep many different versions of a a scene, and allows me to make notes on what's different.

My reasoning is no decision is really final. Sometimes what feels like the right choice turns out not to be once you run with it a while. Also, there's always stuff to salvage.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

It comes down to how much you're thinking of deleting and how important it may be to the direction of the book. I don't generally keep alternate versions of novels and if I change a major plot point, the old one is gone. The main reason for this is to maintain continuity. It becomes difficult to keep track of plots as the novel progresses if the underlying events have altered.

I have this issue with my editor quite often. She tells me I should do this or that, and some changes I simply can't make because I know that upstream in the book they will cause all sorts of problems. And its not just killing characters. In my latest she wanted me to change a minor detail about what the MC knew at one point to clarify things. But if I had I would have had to have rewritten half the book to allow for the change.

It is easier and safer to stick to one version of your book, and with every change you make you then have to go through the book following on from that change with a detaile eye looking only for things that shoulno longer be if the change was made. It's like building a stone house and pulling out a stone low down and then trying to work out how well the rest of the structure above it still stands.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Just thought of a better example. In Alien Caller I got a readers review that blasted me for making geographic mistakes in the work - specifically where a particular state was in relation to the rockies. And I was annoyed with myself for the error. But the reality was that it wasn't a geography error at all. It was continuity. Early on in the piece I had written the location as being in one place, and then decided to change it. I went through the work in painstaking detail looking for any references dependant on the old location, and thought I had got them all. Unfortunately I had missed two relating to state capitols.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Fyle]

Hi,
It comes down to how much you're thinking of deleting and how important it may be to the direction of the book. I don't generally keep alternate versions of novels and if I change a major plot point, the old one is gone. The main reason for this is to maintain continuity. It becomes difficult to keep track of plots as the novel progresses if the underlying events have altered.

This sounds like the best advice here.

It is actually chapter 1, when I wrote chapter 2, I realized someone who died in chapter 1 I wanted as a permenant character. I am 100% decided so... saving the chapter would mean I am saving it just because I don't want to delete it well - just because.

That is to say, there is no actual reason not to delete it. I think some people just don't like the idea of deleting being so final.

Carmela Soprano said "We lose more from indecision than from making the wrong decision sometimes." Something like that. This is the case here, the indecision of saving it or deleting it became a waste of precious time! Now a thread is going on it and I'm not writing and moving on with the work...

 

[TheokinsJ]

I keep backups of my previous works all together, but I rarely refer to them once I do- I suppose the value of keeping past work is that it can inspire fresh stuff- The other day I read through some early drafts of some stories I wrote four years ago- they are nothing like what my WIP is now, the characters, the names, the plot has all changed- but the ideas I had back then, are still valuable and have inspired me to incorporate a few into my WIP. So yes, I'd say delete the chapter if you wish- it won't affect your decision-making, but some day in the future, maybe years from now, you might read it again and find some inspiration from it- for that reason, I keep backups of all my work, no matter how terrible or unfinished it might be.

 

[Ruby]

Hi Fyle,

My CP recently read my WIP and commented that she thought I had too many characters and that I shouldn't invent any more; so I decided to delete the MC's rabbit, Pierre. (The MC's French.) This was a bit of a token gesture on my part, but then I had to undelete Pierre as the MC needed to use him in her act!

In another WIP, I've written two versions of the first chapter so now I'm not sure which one will open the book. A Beta reader suggested that usually your first instinct is the best and you should stick with it, in which case the second version could be a flashback. I'm not convinced, because sometimes you do change your mind and early scenes have to be rewritten once you reach the middle /end of your first draft and you know the plot.

Writing is a lonely business and there are so many decisions to be made. If it's your first chapter, Fyle, you're probably better off changing it now before you proceed any further; but keep a copy of the original version, in case you change your mind.

 

[ScipioSmith]

I archive each draught of each chapter, in case I want to go back and lift an image, bit of dialogue, or even a scene from it. Don't delete anything until your sure that everything you've written to replace it is definitely better than what it replaced.

 

[Incanus]

I tend to fall back on the old adage: It is better to have and not need, than to need and not have.

 

[Cerberus]

I'm a bit of a pack rat, so I always cut/paste anything I don't intend to use into another file. Usually by the end of the book I've got 30+ pages of cut material, and I don't think I've ever gone back and used any of it after cutting it out. If you really wanted to delete it outright as a symbolic gesture you could probably get away with it.

Even so...IMO better to have it and not need it than vice versa. (Edit: Just saw the person above me said this )

 

[Caged Maiden]

Okay, so I have ten rough drafts I keep on my computer. They're stories I might edit. If I edit them, I cut things I may need later and save them all into a single word doc called Brainstorms or something. WHen I'm done with the edit and I'm happy with the story, I move on.

The thing is, some people keep everything and everything has dates on it, but for me, I've too many times mixed up which version I'm in the middle of editing, etc. and it's cost me a ton of valuable time merging things just to make sure I'm working on the right thing. So in that respect, I think when you say yep, this chapter's good (in several rounds of editing) you just save over the old one and be done with it. However, if you're rough draft right now and you want to play with killing a guy or not, I'd keep it for the time being.

Recently, I looked in the Brainstorms document for my WiP which is in final revision and going to an editor. I read it all, decided nothing was really necessary, and deleted the file. Was that necessary? NO. BUt what was I going to do with it? It was really useless.

ON the flip side, I have a novel I have given to a number of crit partners. In this story, all the background information the reader needs to understand the story and the inciting incident is set in chapter one, which uses three POV characters. The whole rest of the book is from another POV character. NOw, the critters told me flat out to delete chapter one and allow one POV to carry the story. BUT, I'm worried that this character will never be privy to the information revealed in the beginning. Well, not unless I employ cheap tactics like her overhearing conversations, which I just CAN'T do because it's lame. So, I want to keep it. If an agent said I needed to cut that chapter, I'd do it, to push the process forward, but I'd probably keep the chapter in my files because I'm not about to just delete the whole thing I think is necessary.

I think each writer needs to draw a line. Something like: When I get to final revision, I delete all the Brainstorms, rough draft versions where the characters had all different names and the setting was roughly drawn and the story went this one way and now it's not even recognizable as the same story. That's sort of what I do.

I don't think I would recommend deleting a chapter as a means to motivate myself to push the story in another direction. If anything, you may eventually come back to it and realize it was better the first way.

The thing is, I delete stuff when it looks like my Middle School wardrobe, you know? Dated, uncool, and something I don't need reminding of because in my mind, I already know it was awful. What good does a crap draft of a book do me if the novel is leaps and bounds better after revision?

Not to alienate those pack-ratty scribes among us, but I believe deleting old work is a sign to me personally of progress. If I can't stand to read the drivel of the first draft, I'm glad to cut it loose and behold the glory of my revised manuscript. But then, when I make changes, I make CHANGES. I take out a chainsaw, machete, sometimes a front loader. i really cut scenes, whack all the excess, and generally change things from weak to strong. So for me, keeping something I noted as weak doesn't make sense. That being said, if I'm in the exploratory phase of writing, I keep everything because even if I won't ever cut and paste a cut chapter back in, I'll take elements of it and work them back in. Yes, keep things while writing, delete things after extensive editing.