But that doesn’t mean the delete button is without its downfalls.
Dreamlander (Amazon affiliate link)
Today, we continue with our month-long series of text and video posts, discussing some of the writing (and life) lessons I learned while writing my portal fantasy novel Dreamlander. One of the biggest of those lessons was also one of the simplest:
Never delete.
Never ever delete.
Never ever EVER delete.
Let me repeat that just to make sure everyone in the cheap seats can hear:
NEVER DOGGONE EVER DELETE!
How to Delete Without Actually Deleting
Now that we’ve got that cleared up, let me note that I am actually aware of the total contradiction there. Delete, but don’t delete. How exactly is that supposed to work?
Well, as you’ve probably already figured out (being among the top percentile of clever blog readers, of course), there are ways and means of secretly stashing all the ugly lovelies we’re forced to delete from our manuscripts for one reason or another.
Mostly (okay, so entirely) these ways boil down to a task every bit as arduous as copy/pasting into a new file. Since all self-respecting writers are supposed to be imaginative in naming things, I call my file “Deleted Data.” Killer, right?
But you know what’s really killer about it?
Its size. Dreamlander’s finished draft weighed in at 181,000 words. Wanna take a guess on the size of my delete file (or, actually, three delete files, by the time all was said and done)?
Try this on for size: 191,000 words.
In other words, the stuff I deleted from the book makes a bigger book than the book itself.
At first glance, that sounds like all kinds of painful. But let me put this in perspective with a few qualifiers.
1. Some of those words are duplicates, since certain sections were actually deleted more than once.
2. Some of those words actually made it in to the book. I cut them, put them back in, and never took them out of the delete file.
3. It’s also true, however, that some of my deleted data never made it into the file at all, either through an oversight on my part or just sheer laziness.
But suffice it that I have saved a Godzilla-sized file of throwaway words. And that file has saved me a ton of work.
Why?
Three Reasons a Delete File Saves Writers Work
1. Deleting Hard-Won, Beloved Words Is Tough
Removing words to a separate file allows you to take them out of your manuscript without losing them entirely. It eases the pain of separation and makes killing those darlings just a little bit easier.
2. Sometimes Writers Change Their Minds
Have you ever written a chapter, condemned it as junk while in a bad mood, and deleted it, only to realize—whoops!—you just made a major mistake? By the time Dreamlander was finished, several scenes I had abandoned early on in the process made their way back into the book. Had I permanently deleted them, I would have been forced to start entirely from scratch.
3. Just Because a Scene (or Part of a Scene) Didn’t Work Doesn’t Mean It Might Not Be Handy for the Sake of Reference
Remembering I wrote a particular sentence, only to be unable to find it in my manuscript, can be frustrating. But if I can also search my deleted data, I have a much better chance of convincing myself I’m not so loony as my cats sometimes think.
Bottom line: delete files are a safety net. And in a journey as potentially perilous as writing, why not take a few easy precautions to save yourself time and stress later on?
Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! Do you keep a delete file? Why or why not? Tell me in the comments!
Click the “Play” button to Listen to Audio Version (or subscribe to the Helping Writers Become Authors podcast in Apple Podcast or Amazon Music).
___
Love Helping Writers Become Authors? You can now become a patron. (Huge thanks to those of you who are already part of my Patreon family!)
