Bonus Content

I was looking over my graveyard files today. If you're a writer and you don't have a graveyard or boneyard, you should start one. It's a place for you to put all your cut content. Remember that scene with the wallaby and the honey pot that you loved so much but you just couldn't work into the main story? Boneyard. How about that scene where the cop pulls over your main character, sees that they're a sentient donkey, and just walks back to his patrol car? Funny, but man, it had to go to the boneyard.

Well, I was scanning through mine. Man, my story has changed a lot since I first started. So much better, I'll grant, but I miss some of the little things I had to cut. And some of the big ones, too. Fortunately a writer always has a secret strategy: keep writing. I have lots of cut content from The Paladin that just didn't work out but is still good material. And you know what? It'll be even better when I drop it into the sequel. 

Need a quick b plot for your next novel? Check the boneyard. Need a great quip from your MC? Check the boneyard! There's no reason everything has to be lost forever. It's your work, it deserves to see the light of day if it's good. And understand, being cut from your novel doesn't mean it's bad, just that it didn't fit.

I'm cleaning things up right now, making plans for the sequel's outline and my graveyard is like a goldmine. The next novel is still so open that it could really go anywhere, so working in ideas that didn't work with The Paladin, is not only a godsend, but a time saver as well. And don't just take my word for it. Keeping a boneyard file a strategy suggested by the lovely crew at Writing Excuses. And I can't tell you how many behind the scenes documentaries on movie sequels mention how much recycled content they have from previous endeavors that just didn't work out.

You like Yoshi? Yeah, the dinosaur from Super Mario World. He was supposed to be in the first Mario Bros. Yeah. That one. On NES. The very first one. Hand to glob. The system just couldn't handle it, so he was scrapped, but my goodness did he return with a vengeance. 

So if you don't have a graveyard/boneyard, start one. When you cut some content, drop it there. Art work? Drop it. Music? Drop it. One liners? Drop it. Entire chapters? Freakin' drop it in the boneyard, man! You've done the work, no need to reinvent the wheel.

​Don't forget to be awesome!