Generally speaking I write a short story (or novel) and once the serious editing begins cut a huge chunk of background info and scene setting from the opening because its only purpose is to tell me what and who I am writing about.
Last night, having finally got a 3000 word start on a secret novella project, it occurred to me that (shock horror) I had started too late down the timeline.
Oh, the several redundant pages of ‘scene and citizen’ are still there and will be cut in due course. I do, however, now have the odd task of writing a precursor to the opening scene, which is now no longer the opening scene, but which will be jettisoned in second edit anyway, in order to make the later scenes relevant to the scene first (redundant) settings envisaged… (wibble).
If you hadn’t realised it before now – yes it is madness, but you at least are only reading these few paragraphs of my thought processes. I have to live with it…
Jan Edwards 