When writing a novel, every scene must help develop the plot or provide significant context. Often scenes must be deleted as the novel is edited because they don’t do enough to help the story develop. Some are harder to remove because they have personal meaning. The following scene was one that brought back a wonderful memory from Grand Marais, Minnesota, but I removed it from the book. While it provided a minor visual context, it didn’t do enough to help move the story along.
The deleted scene:
After he walked away, we climbed over the small ridge and saw an area covered with a couple dozen stacks of rocks, forming a kind of sculptural rock garden. Stacking the rocks was obviously a local pastime.
“Let’s stack our own,” Jane said.
I grinned. “Sounds like fun.”
Several rocks were still lying around, ranging in size from a few inches to more than a foot across. All of the rocks were flat, ideal for stacking.
Ten minutes later we stepped back to observe our work. We felt like we had become part of a tradition, even if our contribution was a moment’s creation to be destroyed soon by wind, water, or some other hands.