The other night I was watching the DVD Shooter. I enjoyed it, then again I’m into action films. After the movie was over, we watched the deleted scenes section on the DVD. Since I watched the scenes AFTER I’d watched the movie, ie, they weren’t in context with the story, doing so allowed me to realize how much I didn’t miss them in the story. Watching the deleted scenes spurred an ‘ah ha’ moment for me that I’d like to share…and make a comparison for you.

When I asked my family if they thought that the deleted scenes should’ve been in the movie, they said, “no”, echoing my own sentiments. The additional scenes wouldn’t have added to the story in my opinion. One of the scenes even seemed out of character for the very intense hero because he was joking around. Then we discussed if we’d ever seen a deleted scene in a DVD that we thought SHOULD’VE remained. Nope. The only examples we could think of were comedic scenes from a comedy movie…ie, it would’ve given us more laughs, but yet again they wouldn’ve have added to the overall story at all.

What this all brought to mind was how authors go through this from time to time with their manuscripts–having scenes cut or shortened. As authors we get attached to our stories because we pour so much time and effort into them, but I think what makes us better authors is being able to see the story from someone else’s point of view, ie…the first reader (read: our editor). The first reader is going to see things we don’t and then be able to point out places that aren’t absolutely necessary to the story (like I felt while watching those deleted scenes from Shooter. I was the ‘first reader’ and I didn’t need them. I believe the film makers made the right decision to cut them). Sometimes cutting is done for pacing purposes, other times…the scene is just too long, but there can be valid reasons to cut or shorten scenes.

If some key/critical information would be lost by cutting a scene in its entirety, then condense the main points into a short paragraph. Brevity has its place and can sometimes pack a powerful punch.

The point of this post…we’re always growing as writers. I think the hardest lesson (but one so very valuable to learn) is when to let go of some of those words we’ve so tirelessly written and weaved into our stories. There ARE going to be times when every word isn’t necessary and keeping them can actually bog down the point you were trying to get across.