That creative writing teacher told me to kill my favorite paragraph...

I was taking this night class down at the community college, and we had to write a short story about a guy finding an old key. I spent two whole pages on this really vivid scene where he's digging through his dad's toolbox and finds it wrapped in oily cloth, and I was proud of that part. The teacher said cut it, that it was slowing things down and didn't move the plot. I took it out and the story felt hollow for weeks, but now I think he was right - the pace got way better. Has anyone else had an editor or critique partner make a cut that you fought but later agreed with?

2 comments

2 Comments

brown.susan7d ago

Oh man, I felt this in my bones lol. I had an editor cut a whole scene I loved where my main character was just watching the sunset and thinking, and it hurt like crazy but the story honestly flowed so much better without it.

eric_morgan597d ago

Used to fight every single cut like it was personal. @brown.susan totally gets it, I had the same sting when a beta reader told me to drop a three-paragraph weather description I was in love with. It was painful but the story breathed better without it, and now I see my paragraphs aren't sacred, just the story is.