Outtakes 254

Starting Over

by Cait Collins

What do you do when you discover the original premise of your story no longer works?

Simple. You start over. That doesn’t mean you scrap everything . Instead you junk what is no longer applicable. For example the nasty brothers no longer have a purpose in the story. Their one scene is trashed.

But what about the PI? He stays, because I know exactly how he fits. And he will play a major part. And the prologue stays. I have to set the basis for the action. There’s the television scene that stays, for now. I’ll also keep the meeting with the mother Sean does not remember. I like that part.

The basic scenes I’ve written are the snippets of the story. Having mentally edited some scenes, I’m in a better position to move forward. You see, this story is a challenge. My previous novels have been about four hundred pages each. I’m attempting to write shorter novels of about three hundred pages. That’s about 25,000 fewer words. My fear is that I will sacrifice plot for fewer pages. But I will keep on because I like my characters and my plot. I just have to get rid of the dead weight.