The Cut File

Have you recently finished a draft and are staring down a ruthless round of revisions? Whether it’s your first or almost final draft, now is the time to look at your writing with a critical eye, ironing out details in the revision process or fixing those typos you swear weren’t there before (been there, said that, still don’t know where those buggers came from), and kill your darlings. But what if you can’t? “Killing your darlings” can be difficult, especially if it’s a scene you really loved, like a heartwarming found family dinner like the one I just cut from my YA fantasy novel to save the pacing, but you can’t bring yourself to wholly delete it. That’s where this saving grace comes in. Let me introduce to you: The Cut File.

At some point during the revision process, a writer has to make sacrifices—you know, “for the plot.” But what are those sacrifices? And what if you really love those details?

For me, a detail that has to be “zapped” out of a narrative is one that has no substantial significance that doesn’t necessarily hurt your plot, or help it out either. This can be a little glimpse into your character that maybe has nothing to do with the situation they’re in at that moment in the plot or a sentence that you absolutely love and would hate for it to go unread. At its core, “zappable” details, in my opinion, are the ones that hurt the pacing of your novel. They’re the ones that trip your readers up and might break the reader’s immersion into your story’s reality.

During my revision process, whether it’s my YA fantasy novel or a short story, I always remind myself that these details can be saved to be used later. I tell myself that I’m just slipping them in my back pocket for future use. This makes striking these details from my narrative a little easier and allows me to be a ruthless reviser. The idea of a cut file is not “goodbye,” “so long,” “don’t let the door hit ya,” but more of an “I’ll see you later!” promise to these moments that just don’t work where I’d wanted them to originally.

The cut file can be an actual folder on your computer (or a notebook if you prefer) with individual documents (or entries) per zapped detail, or it can be one long document per narrative. I personally use the latter so it’s all in one place based on the work it belongs to when I need it. Each detail has a proper heading that I not only use to help navigate the document, but it’s also a brief description of whatever it is. For example, I wanted a scene where my character was stitching up the sleeve of her jacket, and another character walks in, exclaiming that they didn’t know she could sew, prompting her to tell him how she learned.

Despite the fact that I adore little moments like this in media that break up the overarching plot (and the often heart-wrenching high-stakes scenarios that come with it), this particular scene didn’t quite fit where I’d written it, and there wasn’t another place for me to move it to. Knowing full well that I intend on tackling a sequel for this piece very soon, I cut the scene and stuck it in my cut document with the heading “Fluffy Sewing Scene”. Now I only have to hope I can find a place for this idea in the sequel, but the important part is that it’s not lost or on the brink of being forgotten. You can even use these cut scenes as exclusive bonus content material or deleted scenes that you share with your following (I use mine for my newsletter followers so they get something special that’s meant only for them).

With the promise and potential of a cut file, revising becomes a little less daunting and heartbreaking. The cut file, for me, allows a certain type of bold freedom that pushes me to be a more critical editor, not only because it forces me to look at my work harder to find those details that I just can’t iron out or “save,” but it gives me the hope of being able to come back to them some day.

Writing can be a difficult journey for a multitude of reasons, but utilizing tools like the cut file can make it easier, especially if you don’t want to give up on the ideas you have floating around in your head. Plus, you won’t ever forget those scenes if you save it for later in a cut file! Don’t be afraid of making sacrifices to further your plot, because if a detail has to be stricken, you don’t (and maybe shouldn’t) view it as a permanent removal. It’s simply being put in a queue with the hopes of being reassigned to a better spot where it’ll make more sense and not jar the reader out of your narrative. You may not be able to use those scenes or details verbatim, but these scraps can be used as a starting point for when you go to reincorporate them back into your narrative or as bonus content, in a place where it belongs and serves a better purpose or reading experience for your audience.

So, go forth, brave reviser, and don’t fear the red pen!