More Author Insight: Author Editions

If you got the opportunity to write an author edition of one of your books, what deleted scenes or extras would be included?

"I would love to have another crack at Boy Toy. I would add back in the scene of Josh taking boxing lessons as well as a sexual reference that I deleted later on and have always regretted. It would probably only amount to adding three or four pages to the book, but it would make me happy." - Barry Lyga, author of I Hunt Killers. 

"My Life Next Door changed tremendously from it's first draft, for the good, I believe, but there is still a scene from the old book that I love and miss. In it, Samantha, the heroine, wakes up in Jase's bed after something terrible happens, and he runs to get his mother. I loved the interaction between Mrs. Garrett and Sam, and Jase, who was out of his element but rose to the occasion. It's a cliche in writing to say you must 'kill your darlings'--ditch some of the scenes you are fondest of. That's the only scene I really regret losing." - Huntley Fitzpatrick, author of My Life Next Door. 

"I'd include a few scenes that are refererenced (from the characters' pasts) and some commentary on additional things going on within a scene." - C.J. Redwine, author of Defiance.

"I’m getting that opportunity because I’m contracted to write three e-shorts based on the world of Starters. So I get to choose any character, even a new one, and explore. The first one, ‘Portrait of a Starter,’ is from Michael’s point of view and also plays off the cover." - Lissa Price, author of Starters. 

"My Double Life is written in first person so I couldn’t put a couple of really interesting scenes in the novel because my main character wasn’t around when they happened. I wrote them anyway and put them on my website. You can read them at JanetteRallison.com" - Janette Rallison (AKA C.J. Hill), author of Erasing Time. 

"There were a few cut scenes from the beginning of Throne of Glass that I’d love to include in an author edition—most of them taking place while Celaena is journeying to the glass castle. They were trimmed because they slowed down the action pretty significantly (and I wanted Celaena to get to the glass castle as quickly as possible), but I really did love them. It was a total case of murdering my darlings." - Sarah Maas, author of Throne of Glass. 

"'I'd love to do an annotated edition where I got to talk about some of the specific historical references that made their way into the book. I'd also like to tell the story of Mal's time on the northern border." - Leigh Bardugo, author of Shadow and Bone. 

"I’d love to add all kinds of maps and diagrams to all my books. I love maps. In terms of text, not much in my recent books. I think my editors save me from myself. The one exception is the first book of my Oliver Nocturne series. I would add a couple scenes I cut because I was under a strict length limit. Also, I would make some cuts in the early chapters. Actually, I also wrote a few journal entries by one of the other characters in that series that I think would make good interludes."  - Kevin Emerson, author of The Lost Code. 

"I truly can't think of any deleted scenes for In Honor or Moonglass, so I think I'd include extras like the playlist to each book and maybe a list of interesting facts for each--real places, people who inspired characters, etc." - Jessi Kirby, author of In Honor. 

"In The Secret Year, Austin was sort of the villain—he was portrayed as spoiled and arrogant, but we saw him mostly through the eyes of his main rival. I wrote some scenes from his point of view that don’t appear in the final book. - Jennifer Hubbard, author of Try Not to Breathe.

"I have posted some deleted scenes from The Lonely Hearts Club on my blog. I wrote fourteen different drafts of that book before I even had a publisher. So a lot got changed along the ways. But everything that got taken out needed to be cut." - Elizabeth Eulberg, author of Take a Bow.

"Hmm...this is a tough question. As a writing exercise before Spellcaster, I wrote Emma's first day from Brendan's point-of-view, because he's the character who has to grow the most and come to terms with his past decisions. So, I'd possibly include that." - Cara Lynn Shultz, author of Spellcaster. 

Come back Tuesday to find out what lengths the authors have gone to to avoid their novels!

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