Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Killing Our Darlings

We are knee deep in the first draft of THE LIES THAT BIND and I'm not gonna lie, it ain't pretty. As always, we kick things off with an outline and as always, we think to ourselves, "This time we're totally going to stick to the outline. Easy squeezy." And, as usual, we're totally, completely, utterly wrong. We used the outline for about two chapters and then went rogue and now we're flying by the seat of our pants praying that this book actually works.

As always, there are casualties.

I'm not going to lie, it wasn't easy going all backspace on this chapter's ass, but it's for the good of the book. AND it will make a killer extra when we're promoting TLTB. And because you guys put up with all of our random, we decided to post just a tiny little bit of it for you today.

Are you ready? Here it goes...a couple paragraphs of a deleted scene from The Lies That Bind....


These were never good meetings. They were called last minute, riskier than the ones we held in the dark, under the ground. We weren’t even all together, but mixed and separated by non-members and members alike. The code wasn’t perfect, but it worked, delivered important messages about how we should proceed. And they almost always followed some sort of emergency.

Praesedi, our president, would begin eating, our cue. The message originated at the table where SAT prep books were scattered and kids quizzed each other for upcoming exams. Secretum, our secretary, sat at this table, pouring over homework like the rest of them. But today the goal wasn’t to commit five new vocabulary words to memory, today was Commemoro. The Relay.

So...yeah. We spent our long weekend stress eating and killing our darlings. How about you guys? 

10 comments:

Matthew MacNish said...

I had to work on Monday so I kind of hate you.

And I'm glad the secretary wasn't Secrotum, because that would just be gross.

Unknown said...

I feel bad for Matthew but glad he hates you guys and not me.

I spent my day yesterday revising (line edits) a good 50 pages before heading to my aunts and enjoying pool time. I haven't had any casualities lately but that's because I've been through a few revisions. They stop at some point!

B.E. Sanderson said...

I can't wait to read the book. I totally hear you on the edits. I spent yesterday re-writing the first chapter of my 2010 NaNo novel. It needs a lot of work, but it doesn't totally stink. (At least not today. Tomorrow I might feel differently.) Good luck with your edits and don't feel so bad about your darlings. Sometimes they have to die.

Christa Desir said...

I'm sad you all have to delete this scene. But editing is about the most painful thing a writer does. I sort of love it and hate it at the same time.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Dudes. I am TOTES excited for this! I raved about your book so much that my twin sister is reading it RIGHT NOW. Can't wait till she's done so we can chat about it (she doesn't allow any chatting while she's reading a book. She's no fun like that)

Jemi Fraser said...

We had family & friend events all weekend so I didn't get a thing done on my story. Hopefully today!

Loved the snippet - it's going to be great!

Kelly Lyman said...

Good for you- it's tough though. I spent the weekend starting draft 1 of my new story. I only made it to the second page though. One of my CPs is however, killing my darlings as she reads the MS I hope to query at the end of summer.

Misha Gerrick said...

I'm killing darlings too, although, now that I've finished my drafts, none of my darlings are really that... darling.

;-)

Marsha Sigman said...

Stared at computer. Watched Burlesque for the 3rd time. Wrote a few pages. Watched Burlesque for the 4th time. Moaned about fireworks ban due to extreme drought.

That was pretty much my weekend.

Bethany Elizabeth said...

I can't stick to outlines either. :) I'm super excited for your next book - I loved Liar Society! (So did my mom. Sharing books is sooo awesome!) :D

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