Cut Scene!
By Carrie Lofty
Sometimes, a nice scene just needs to go. It can’t be helped! A story only needs so many trees or pixels in order to be told properly. The hardest scenes to cut are nice ones. What follows is a scene cut from STARLIGHT, when Alex walks Polly home from a bar brawl (another cut scene!). This was just…nice. Well worded. Decent banter. Yet it lacks that indefinable quality that a steamy, zingy, exciting, essential scene has in spades.
However, being both a reader and an author, I love to read cut scenes (and watch them in movies). Sometimes I agree—yeah, cut that baby! Other times, well… Ask me about Terminator II if you’re interested…
In the meantime here’s a near-miss between Polly and Alex. I hope you enjoy a little peek into my artistic decision making process!
“I want you to kiss me properly.”
Alex bit his back teeth together. He couldn’t look away—like a man hypnotized. “And what exactly would you define as kissing properly?”
“With passion and a little bit of fear.” Her big, dark eyes were weapons, able to strip him of decency. With very hitched breath, her breasts rose and fell. “I want you to kiss me like every force in the world is urging you to back me against this wall and claim me as your woman.”
“That’s barbaric,” he said, even as her words shot a jolt of heat to his groin. It would be so easy. “It’s crude.”
“It’s what we both want. Admit it”
“How is it you’re even saying this to me? What sort of family do you come from?”
She reared back as if he’d struck her across the cheek. “One you need. Don’t you forget it.”
“What about your virtue?”
With an expression Alex was quickly coming to dislike, she raised her eyebrows and offered a mocking chuckle. “Look around you! Tell me where the fun begins. We drink and we dance. We play rough games. And yes, if I were a Catholic girl I’d have made confession. Because there isn’t much else to be had.” She looked him up and down in a way that made him feel like the one who’d sinned. “I thought maybe… But maybe I was wrong.”
Alex’s brain was a poached egg. And his body—his body simply craved. “It’s late, Miss Gowan.”
“That it is, master.”
“Just… Hell, woman. Stop it.”
She looked up at him as if they weren’t quarreling. “That’s the first I’ve heard you curse.”
“You haven’t been in my mind for the last five minutes.”
“No, but I think I might’ve liked it.”
“Why do you say that?”
With an aching slowness, she reached up to touch his cheek. The tips of her fingers caught on his late evening stubble. “Because I’d like to know what you really think. Beneath all these layers. Mostly I want to know what you think of me. You make it impossible to tell.”
“I want to know why you think we could do what you suggested.”
“Well, you’re not about me to marry you. Not the esteemed master Christie!” She grinned as if sharing a fantastic jest—just before she stroked down his lapels. Alex banked a hard shudder as he imagined her hands on his bare chest. “It would be a wonderful diversion. A few weeks to look back on with a private smile.”
“There are risks.”
“Risks that can be avoided with discretion and a little planning.”
Alex looked up to the sky, disgusted that he was even contemplating such an arrangement. He could make it good for her, make sure she and her family were cared for. And where was the harm? She was willing. He was widowed. Men had taken mistresses for centuries without so much as a moral twitch.
He respected Polly Gowan. And he desired her to the point of throwing away his principles. Those two conflicts cleaved his skull as if splitting down the middle with an ax.
Alex ran a thumb along her jaw, then tucked that same auburn strand behind her ear. The temptation of sinking his fingers deeper into the heavy mass of her hair burned with the power of a star’s nova.
“I won’t do this.”
She smiled softly, almost sadly. “I don’t understand you, but I’ve never taken you for a coward.”
Alex tensed. Let her go. Stepped back. “Not a coward, Miss Gowan. A gentleman.”
“Too bad,” she whispered. “There’s hardly any call for gentlemen in Calton.”
What’s next for me:
Now that RT BookReviews 4½ Star Top Pick STARLIGHT has hit the shelves, I’ll be looking forward to the release of HIS VERY OWN GIRL, a historical romance set in World War II. It’s not women’s fiction. It’s not literary fiction. It’s a genuine romance, complete with sexy times and a happy ending. Look for it September 4th as a Pocket Star digital original novel. I cannot wait to see how readers respond!
I’ll also be launching a new co-written pseudonym, Katie Porter, with my long-time friend and critique partner, Lorelie Brown. Our “Vegas Top Guns” series of contemporary erotic romances will debut from Samhain on July 31 with the release of DOUBLE DOWN, which is also a RT BookReviews 4½ Star Top Pick. Two more from the series, INSIDE BET and HOLD ‘EM, will follow in August and September. You can learn more about these and future books at our website.
Where to find me:
http://www.carrielofty.com
Twitter: @carrielofty
I’d like to give away a copy of STARLIGHT, and I’ll ship anywhere. Just answer this: Cut scenes…love them or don’t need them? Why?
Thanks again to Book Binge for having me!
This book is available from Pocket Books. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
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I have mixed feelings about cut scenes. The author chose to cut them for whatever reason, so I respect that. But If I love a book’s characters, I’m pretty selfish and I want to read everything there is on them! I enjoyed your cut scene and look forward to reading Starlight.
So, about Terminator II–was there a cut scene you think should have stayed in?
I like seeing cut scenes in most cases because I like to see the writing process. However, sometimes I get frustrated a scene has been cut that would have made my experience of the book so mcuh better if it would have been left in.
I love cut scenes. A lot of times they give us another glimpse into another facet of the character’s lives.
I like cut scenes. It’s interesting to see how the story changed over time and if the cut scene would have enhanced the story.
LSUReader I feel exactly the same way. When I love a book I can’t get enough.
I can do without the cut scenes. If they aren’t in the book, why bother to read them?
I like cut scenes, especially if i really enjoyed the book! thank you for the contest!
inthehammockblog at gmail dot com
I’m not fussed about reading cut scenes usually as presumably there was a reason for taking it out. However, having just read this one, I am definitely interested in seeing why it didn’t make the grade because I liked it!
I’m also having mixed feeling. Because there must be a reason why they’re cut, but sometime i want them not cut.
smile_1773 at yahoo dot com
It depends on why the scene was cut. When the author cuts because they have to hit a certain word count, then I always enjoy seeing the deleted scenes because they are usually fun to read, but just didn’t advance the plot. On the other hand, if they are cut because the book was dragging with them, then it’s better to leave them out.
jen(at)delux(dot)com
I’ve never thought about cut scenes from books, only from movies (which I enjoy watching on DVD’s. I would assume book scenes are cut due to the length of the book or because they just didn’t fit into the story, and any that were cut weren’t needed or their point was incorporated in another spot.
sallans d at yahoo dot com
WOW!!! Thanks for the great scene!
I’m a glutton for anything… especially if I’ve read and love a story, I love to read what could have been or any extras the author gives us. I know that during the editing process a lot gets cut and rewritten so it’s all part of the process to get the story that we fall in love with. But it’s definitely fun to get the “extras” 🙂
efender1(at)gmail(dot)com
Cut scene is a must read part for me! I love to read a cut scene of my fave books. It has its own value.
lady_milano3 at yahoo dot com
Love cut scenes. It might give you more info on the characters, places or plot.
I don’t need them. They were cut for a reason. I’m happy to just go with the final product & enjoy.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
I enjoy reading them when they’re offered. Revisiting characters I enjoyed is fun.
Barbed1951 at aol dot com
I enjoy cut scenes and especially knowing why they were cut.
The WWII book sounds fascinating – a period that seems to me to be under represented in romance novels – so much drama to be had though. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for that one.
And, I too, would like to know re the Terminator II cut scene. 🙂
hankts AT internode DOT on DOT net
i never read cut scenes before but i think i will not read it
eli_y83@yahoo.com
I like to read cut scenes of a book when they are just showing us a bit more of the characters. I don’t really want any new plot twists to happen in a cut scene.
claudigc at msn dot com
The author believes every word they write is golden. An editor is there, like a movie director, to say “CUT!”. When authors then have no restraint you get tomes like the later Harry Potters: great for a doorstop, but impossible to read!
Please enter me in the giveaway,I would love to win the new Carrie Lofty.
annfesATyahooDOTcom
I love them. Because sometimes I think they could make the story much better, or explain things that aren’t quite clear to me. Please enter me. Thanks!
ayancey(at)dishmail(dot)net
Hey, I loved that scene. It’s nice and sweet. But maybe it’s not that important, although, still, it’d made me smile while reading it.
Honestly, I’ve never read any cut scenes from any books before. But I do love cut scenes from movies. Wonder if someday the author will insert it at the end of the book. 🙂
Anyway, thanks for the giveaway. I really love the cover.
diahtc at gmail dot com
I haven’t read Starlight–yet!–but I enjoyed the scene you cut. Perhaps I would be more able to analyze it if I knew more about the H/H but my feeling on cut scenes in general is that if it was cut by the author, she/he knew it wasn’t quite “right” for their book so I would just as soon not read them.
Thanks for the chance to win this book–without the cut scene!
quiltlady44-bks2ATyahooDOTcom
I have occasionally read some cut scenes and they can be interesting, seeing something more that wasn’t in the book.
mce1011 AT aol DOT com