Risky Business Moments

Let’s face it, we’ve all looked at something we’ve written and said, “Ack! This isn’t working.” Whether it’s a mere sentence, a paragraph, a chapter, or an entire manuscript, there is that inevitable time when you realize the meat cleaver has to be let loose, wielded with reckless abandon, and the fat must be chopped. 

Look at all that fat! Begone with you, fat!

Hey, it happens. But then again, there are times when this is an invitation for the old Risky Business line to be applied: “Sometimes you just gotta say, ‘What the heck.’” [paraphrased: we are a middle grade blog, after all].

Sometimes you just gotta say, "What the heck"

It is on these occasions that we cast off any inhibitions and do things differently. And I’m talking major overhauls. Some examples:

• Changing the point of view (I had a 90K manuscript I changed from 3^rd to 1^st after a Risky Business moment--I ended up putting the project on the old shelf, but I felt the experiment was worthy of the lofty effort).
• Changing the names/gender of characters (I had a character whose name/gender changed 3 times during different revisions).
• Cutting the beginning of a manuscript and trying something new (sometimes this can mean scrapping a significant portion of your work…oh, have I done that).
• Changing the end of a manuscript and trying something new.
• Adding a secondary plotline, or two, or three (layering that bad boy and giving it some needed depth).
  
• Altering your storytelling voice (this can be a monumental revision, especially if you’re writing in 1^st person).

Sometimes these drastic changes work, oftentimes not. There are more Risky Business changes writers often make when something isn’t working, and this is where I turn to you. What Risky Business moments have you had that led you to say “What the heck”?

* Now feel free to slide down the hall in your socks, underwear, sunglasses, and a dress shirt (collar up, of course).