I wonder what it would be like if our goal was to fill the cutting room floor, instead of ‘write or illustrate a book’.
When a filmmaker makes a feature-length film, they shoot thousands of hours of footage. In the film-making culture, you always shoot more than you ever need. It’s expected that most of what is shot over years of filming will never end up in the movie; it’ll remain on the cutting room floor. It’s part of the process. When you’re making a film, that’s normal.
When you’re writing a book, or illustrating a story, it’s hard to let go of the first draft. We want it all to be in the book. It took hours to write or draw. We spent weekends on it, or precious time when the kids were asleep. We worked so hard to make the number of words people say you need for a book. And now we’ve done it. The book is done. We’re done.
But professional writers know that writing a book, and making a film, have similarities. We have to write or draw much more than we’ll ever need. We’ve got to fill the cutting room floor so that, of the thousands of hours of work we’ve put in to make all those words and pictures, only the best bits will see the light of day.