Sometimes I just want to stick it to the man.
With the super awesome power of my books, that is.
Sometimes it’s a hoot, poking fun, or just calling out the absurdities of life by going over the top with some goofy character or hyped-up scenario.
And sometimes it just doesn’t fit. I’ll explain:
In FINDERS KEEPERS, I crafted a scene with the character of Donald — a 40ish, balding worker-bee called into the CEO’s office; an office in Eternity, the realm that oversees the construction of all celestial bodies in the Universe.
In this scene, the CEO was in the process of humiliating his secretary, yet again, simply because he could.
The elevators had gone out in the building, yet the CEO was forcing his secretary to walk down some 40 flights of stairs to retrieve his lunch order. And, of course, the CEO did all this through an intercom, adding to the humiliation.
Donald, who happened to walk into this scene, volunteered to do the grunt work, sparing the secretary this mortifying task. Ultimately, it did not go well for anyone.
The reason I crafted this scene to begin with — hey, it was fun to write and it helped with Donald’s character development — is that it’s based on a true story, as amazing as that may sound.
I hate bullies and weasels, and saw this as a perfect opportunity to ‘stick it to the man’ with what I thought was a well-crafted scene.
Only one problem.
As far as FINDERS KEEPERS went, the scene — while effective unto itself — was not critical to advancing the overall plot of the novel, and slowed down the pace.
So even though I spent the better part of two weeks fine-tuning the action, and as much as I hated to do so, I cut it from the manuscript.
I still have hopes that I’ll find another place for this scene; it may yet show up in the third and final book of the first FINDERS KEEPERS trilogy, or perhaps I’ll use it in one of the spin-off books I have in mind. Or maybe I’ll never find the right spot. Tough to tell.
In any case, as an author, it’s sometimes tough to take one of your favorite children and slip them into a drawer.
Then again, that’s the beauty of there being so many pinheads in the world. There’s always another chance to stick it to the man.