This dress is special. It belonged to my great-aunt. It’s silk velvet, probably 1930s. Soft as a foal’s pelt, red as claret. It clings like cobweb but is now too fragile to wear. I was so happy to give it a new outing – with a few alterations – in a scene for My Memories of a Future Life.
Then later, with my ruthless editing head on, I cut the whole scene.
I’m at Creative Flux today, a blog curated by Terre Britton -painter, designer, illustrator, owner of Terrabyte Graphics, VP of marketing at Sirius Press, Inc and co-author of Energetics: The First Order, the first of a four-book sci-fi-thriller series. She asked me to talk about my creative process – and why I cut that precious scene.
Do you have a precious scene you had to say goodbye to? Why was it hard to let go?
Nail Your Novel 
Roz,
This is a touching scene. After having read the book, I do agree that it reiterates what Carol is feeling; but since I finished the book weeks ago, it brings back all of those pangs that I felt for her. I can appreciate how difficult this must have been for you to cut.
Thanks for sharing this melancholy reminder of a great read!
Jacinda
Thank you very much, Jacinda x
Roz, thank you for your generous accolades and for giving me the opportunity to showcase your talent on Creative Flux.
What a pretty scene. A shame you had to cut it, but kudos to you for having the guts to do so. And the dress is gorgeous – a wonderful family heirloom.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Stacy! Probably every novel has a scene that’s just a bit more extra than is needed – but we find hard to let go. It was lovely to find an excuse to share it – and to immortalise the dress.
Nice scene Roz, though I understand why it had to go. I deleted quite a few scenes in my novel. I thought I’d miss them, but as it turns out, I didn’t. So I know I was ruthless enough. 😉
That’s the acid test, Sally, isn’t it? You think you can’t do without the scene, but then when you whip it out you find the book gets on quite well without it. Oh well, in these days of blog posts and extras we can give them new life!
Yep! It’s kind of like having the ‘deleted scenes’ feature in DVDs. 🙂