Save Your Editorial Cuts and Deleted Scenes

by Glynn Young @gyoung9751

I had several pieces of a novel-in-progress that I’d set aside from the manuscript. Two fell outside the overall timeline; I’d cut several others because, while they were interesting, detracted from the main flow of the story. One was most of an entire scene; one involved a character than
I’d cut; and one simply had way too much detail for the short scene that it was. But I’d kept them all, saved in a file on my computer as well as in my own head.

I was also working as a contributing editor for an online magazine, published several times a year and each issue centered on a theme. The editor was seeking articles, poems, and stories for the Christmas issue, and I remembered one of my cut pieces from the novel-in-progress.
It was a Christmas story, but it needed a bit of work. I pulled it from its Word file on my computer and began to read, edit, revise, and write. It needed work; reading it now, I’d still do more revising. But I submitted it, and it was accepted and duly published.

Any publication of your writing is validation, and I was more than pleased. A few weeks later, the story became something else – a gateway.

I was talking with a friend in publishing and mentioned the novel-in-progress. I said I even had a spinoff story that had been published online, and I was asked to send the link. I didn’t know if I would hear anything back or not, but not long afterward an email arrived; the publishing friend asked to see the entire manuscript when it was finished.

The response resulted in (a) some excitement, (b) a focus on getting the manuscript done, and (c) some thinking about all the different pieces of stories I had sitting in files, including several for novels already published. That included cut scenes, novels that never quite made it, ideas for
spinoffs, and a few fleshed-out ideas.

The result of that is a bank of stories. Some will only be published on my blog, but some will be targeted for other publications. One, in fact, is set to be published in the fall.

The benefits are many.

First, the scenes keep me writing between projects, sometimes in the middle of projects. They’re different enough from the source they came from to bring a fresh perspective.

Second, it’s always gratifying to see a story you’ve done available for others to read, even if it’s published on your blog.

Third, publishing stories is a big improvement over fragments and pieces sitting forgotten in a computer file. I used to call this “flotsam and jetsam,” but no more.

Fourth, stories help introduce your work to others. Readers have a multitude of novels, articles, news reports, social media posts, and magazines competing for their attention. You know this, because you’re a reader as well. A story is an easy way to honor a reader’s time and (we hope) entice them to read more.

Fifth, stories are low-risk and low-investment for a publisher to see what kind of work you do. They also like to see your work being published in other places.

Sixth, stories can be used to introduce and market a larger work, like a novel.

And seventh, they might even suggest an entirely new project.

So, save your editorial cuts and deleted scenes. They may be a marketing tool, and they may become your next novel.

Glynn Young is a national award-winning speechwriter, communications practitioner, and novelist. He’s the author of five published novels, Dancing Priest, A Light Shining, Dancing King, Dancing Prophet;  and Dancing Prince; and the non-fiction book Poetry at Work.  Visit Glynn on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, his blog, the Dancing Priest book page, and his business web site.