1 month ago
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Over the weekend, I watched part of the first Austin Powers movie for an important reason. It got stuck in my parents’ DVD player. Funny side story: they have no idea how it got in the player or where it came from. Eventually, I removed the DVD, but not before watching the deleted scenes.
Some were interesting, and the rest were so-so. My conclusion was that the editor made a good decision to delete them. Why? It is challenging to visualize action and tempo when writing a script. Clearly, the scriptwriter had great intentions, but actually viewing the scenes shows they did not align with a snappy movie.
This got me thinking about the material I cut from my books. The worst offender is my second, where I needed to delete several pages from the first chapter. This is because I unintentionally made the main character look like a know-it-all. In the fifth chapter, I cut several paragraphs about trying to communicate via radio. While I really enjoyed writing it, that scene threw a bucket of cold water on the plot. Fun side note: The concept behind those paragraphs was the spark that inspired the entire story.
The Austin Powers deleted scenes got me thinking: “Would readers want to read my discarded material?” I have never encountered a book with deleted sections. I have also looked at several authors’ webpages and did not see any deleted material.
The closest equivalent is when somebody discovered the first draft of a mega-famous book. I suppose a select few readers cherish these rough documents, but ordinary readers would never seek them out. I suspect this limits publishing a first draft to the absolute top authors.
Why? A book differs vastly from a movie. Many people have reviewed and updated the script before filming begins. As a result, the deleted scenes look like polished gems. The first draft of a book is a mess (at least in my experience) and only represents a window into the author’s chaotic initial thoughts and their writing process.
Well, I could be the first author to include a deleted chapter. The problem is that readers will not expect this addition and would not know what to do with it. “Why did Bill write about X after the book was over?” Also, I do not wish to air my dirty laundry; I deleted those sections for a reason. And nobody has ever asked, “Hey Bill. Do you have any deleted material I could read over?”
Yet, there is hope for those deleted sections. After a super famous author like Lord of the Rings creator J.R.R. Tolkien passes away, his relatives allow his material to be refreshed or used as the basis for new works. I suppose that is a valid use, but certainly not what is going to happen to my deleted words.
What about deleted articles? Over the years, I stopped working on three because they were going nowhere, and I felt putting in more effort would be a waste of my time.
Would this be an interesting topic to explore? For this article, I looked at my backup files and located these articles. The ideas were not focused, and it is clear why I stopped working on them. Well, should I share those topics to give you some idea of what goes on inside my bonkers head? Errr, no.
I continue to find it fascinating when I locate something that authors should not write about. What am I going to stumble across next? Who knows. I just hope I do not discover it by a bad review.
You’re the best -Bill
May 09, 2026
Hey, book lovers, I published five. Please check them out:
Interviewing Immortality. A dramatic first-person psychological thriller that weaves a tale of intrigue, suspense, and self-confrontation.
Pushed to the Edge of Survival. A drama, romance, and science fiction story about two unlikely people surviving a shipwreck and living with the consequences.
Cable Ties. A slow-burning political thriller that reflects the realities of modern intelligence, law enforcement, department cooperation, and international politics.
Saving Immortality. Continuing in the first-person psychological thriller genre, James Kimble searches for his former captor to answer his life’s questions.
Pushed to the Edge of Existence. Just when Kim, Gabe, and Emma’s lives start returning to normal, a mysterious government organization orders them to use their telepathic abilities, and then they travel to an alien planet.
These books are available in softcover and in eBook format.
