Hi gang, Craig with you again. Somehow, I wound up with Black Friday this year. I struggled to come up with a relevant post. I like the name Black Friday, but I’ve already done naming tricks. I think I finally came up with something.
For anyone outside the USA, yesterday was our Thanksgiving holiday. This is the one that seems to be all about turkey dinner with family, and lots of football. Of course, in 2020, that might have been a bit watered down. The point for today is that we generally have a lot of leftovers.
Writers have leftovers, too. These are little bits and pieces that wound up being cut from our stories in the editing phase. They could be supporting characters that we managed to make quite interesting, or even a bit of setting that got eliminated with a scene.
You really should be saving this stuff. Just like we don’t throw away hundreds of dollars worth of food, we learn to recycle it. I swear one year I’m going to skip the turkey soup and make chili verde from my turkey.
I’ll take a stab at an example here. I have a character named Jason Fogg. I first wrote him into a trunk novel many years ago, and that’s where he stayed. Forgotten and moldering away with the rest of my crap story. Then, one day, I decided to produce a book of short stories. I liked Jason, and decided to give him a facelift. He earned a short story and people seemed to like him. When I put out my second book of short stories, Jason got included again. This might shock my long term fans, but Jason has been published in more stories than any character I’ve ever written. (Soon to be equaled by Serang, and surpassed by Lizzie St. Laurent.)
Okay, I drifted a bit, but the point was that Jason was a recycling project. I could have left him buried away forever, but turned him into something useful.
I don’t know what genres you all write, but you might have a meet-cute that just didn’t work after the characters evolved. Maybe there was a cool car chase that really didn’t belong in your political mystery. Keep that stuff. It might be years later, but it could find a new home where it’s a better fit.
This is related to my old advice about living documents. Instead of copy and paste, you do a cut and paste. It’s gone from your manuscript, but placed in storage for another day.
I like to imagine L. Frank Baum beating his head against the desk and telling himself the flying monkeys just aren’t working in his Western story. Then one morning he wakes up and goes, “These guys would be cool in Oz.”
For those who celebrate, I hope you all had a happy and safe Thanksgiving. Black Friday seems to have been destroyed with advance sales and the Internet, but it’s still going on. If you go out today, take precautions in light of the virus who shall not be named.
I wonder how leftover Thanksgiving calzones would be? Hmmmm?
Story Empire 
I haven’t had any leftovers yet, but I’m on the point of doing so with my WIP. I’ve got a major chunk that I’m thinking of cutting out, but it’s too good to scrap completely, so into the fridge it may end up as leftovers for another day. We’ll wait and see I guess.
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I think it’s a good idea. You might never use it, but if you delete it you can’t use it.
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Great post and cleverly written. I seldom toss ideas, so I do save the leftovers. But, if they get real old and moldy and I truly feel no remorse, then I’ll toss them. 🙂
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I might still save them. A different genre, or a new name could give them fresh life.
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I totally do this. It’s half the reason I write in Scrivener instead of Microsoft word.
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Scrivener gets a lot of love from the community. I use Apple Pages, so I have files in iCloud. I’m one of few people who like Pages.
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A fantastic post, Craig. You make a really good point about characters, scenes, and plots that may wind up in the scrap pile. You never know when they’ll stick their head out of the pile and demand a story! 🙂 I used to make turkey enchiladas with leftover turkey meat and they were awesome!
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Glad you liked the post. Your leftovers sound wonderful.
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I don’t have too many leftovers, but I love the idea of creating short stories for past characters. Great post, Craig. 🙂
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I felt like they had a bit more in them. It’s also a neat tie for a cheap collection that might lead to a novel sale if someone liked the character.
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Terrific post, Craig. Shawnee’s a leftover character. I always hoped she’d make it into a publishable book, but I’d trunked four of her novels. And yes, I agree. Never delete anything. You never know when it can work in a new story. Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!
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I love that, since she is one of your most popular. She just needed the right setting and task. We had a great time, hope you did, too.
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I’m a big believer in never deleting anything. I cut and paste and keep unused scenes and characters. I often dig back through those random bits and pieces for inspiration and have resurrected a character or two which didn’t quite fit in their original work.
I loved your comparison with turkey leftovers. Great post, Craig. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
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It was hard to come up for something for today, so I’m glad it works. Our holiday was wonderful and I hope yours was too.
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I do this a lot. I call it cannibalizing. There’s always something in an idea that I can keep and add to another. Maybe not now, but down the road.
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That’s awesome. It’s one of those things file keepers and notebook keepers can do.
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Definitely a plotter tradition. Glad I have my notebooks for it.
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Clever analogy of leftovers! I don’t cut any scenes–I write too lean and need them all, but I do re-use characters I write and like. And I have more trunk novels than anyone should from my early efforts–all bad. We make gumbo with leftover turkey. We look forward to that as much as the turkey, maybe more:)
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Turkey gumbo is one I haven’t heard of before. I like reusing characters.
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Enjoyed the Baum example, Craig. Excellent post.
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Thank you, sir.
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😊
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I never delete anything. Everything that doesn’t make the final draft goes into a file. You never know when it might be useful. And my secondary characters have been known to pop up again, too. That’s a great idea, Craig.
I hope you had a wonderful holiday. The chili and the calzone sound like great ideas. I’ll be putting on a pot of soup soon. Have a great day!
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We went with a small turkey this year. We might not have too much left. Maybe I should put my food ideas in a folder.
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Excellent read, especially with cut rather than copy.
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Thank you.
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I do keep pieces that I liked but which didn’t ‘belong’ – trouble is, I’ve not put them in a folder for easy retrieval. Perhaps that would be a good next step – thanks.
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You have to develop your own method. I use electronic folders.
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My first writing instructor told us to never throw away a piece of writing. You never know when it could be recycled and used.
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I’ve repurposed characters and even reused a few. It happens.
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Great post and reminder, Craig. I love the Baum story. Our leftovers could end up being invaluable down the road. 😀
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Odd day to post, but I hope it proved relevant.
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Good advice. Recycling is the in thing now, so why not with stories and characters?
As my Grandma used to say,”Waste not, want not.”
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Ha! My grandmother used to say the same thing.
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Great advice.
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Thank you.
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With writing, nothing can ever be surplus to requirements. Everything can (and should) be recycled eventually…
Great post, Craig. Hope all is well at home?
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All is well here, thanks. I like recycling and repurposing things.
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Recycling ideas and stories can be a great creative boost and resource. Great post, Craig 🙂
Reblogged on: https://harmonykent.co.uk/leftovers-anyone/
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Glad you liked it, and thanks for sharing.
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A great post, Craig. Recycling story ideas is a great thing to do. I have done it and created full length short stories from pieces I cut from Through the Nethergate. I did the same with a few ideas from A Ghost and His Gold that my developmental editor forced me to cut out [in a very nice way]. She is always right, even if it breaks my heart at the time. Have a great weekend.
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Thank you. I need to read that one, and will get to it.
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