Hip Replacement
Several months ago, the hip replacement fairy paid a visit to a friend of mine; let’s call him “Dan” for reference sake. Dan is a fellow writer and sometime collaborator on some of fan fiction’s greatest tales. During his younger years, Dan was rather active in sports and as he matured—as many athletes discover—body parts began to wear out. He finally reached the point where he had to start replacing them. Now, I am not sure how accurate it is, but I tell how he found his new hip online. He purchased it from a little old lady who only used it to walk to church on Sundays. To be more accurate, he bought it from her grandchildren once she, well, you know.
Despite my jest at Dan’s expense, he made a wise decision. Rather than wait until his body was beyond repair, he chose to have the hip replacement while he was still young enough to take advantage of his renewed maneuverability. The surgery went well and Dan is doing fine. He has recently begun bike riding and has even taken part in a charity ride or two.
There are times when I am writing that certain scenes just don’t support the plot. As I get older, I am learning there are times—for the story’s sake—that grammatical surgery is require. It could be something as small as changing a few words, or, it might require firing up the imagination and rewriting whole sections. On occasion, the plot might stand better without the scene completely. The key is knowing when the story needs repaired.
I have struggled through stories before that—due to a bad scene I refused to cut—spiraled further and further from the original plot. Entire stories, wasted, simply because I wasn’t wise enough to know when to make changes.
Just thought I would jot this down.