Memoirs Deleted Scenes

Deleted Scenes

Dear Reader(s):

I revised MEMOIRS more than I have ever revised (or for that matter, hope to revise) any of my novels. There were three distinct versions of the book with three distinct endings. The only things the first and last versions of the book share are a handful of character names and Naomi's food diary. (There's a reason this book is dedicated to the editor.) I'm normally sort of against the idea of deleted scenes -- most things get cut for a reason after all -- but in this case, as I revised so very much, I thought it would be interesting to share with you some of the process of how the book came to be. To celebrate MEMOIRS paperback release, you can read some of this deleted material right here beginning June 23, 2009.

Yours,
Gabrielle

                          
                              June 22, 2009

                              DELETED SCENE #1

                              This was the original opening of MEMOIRS OF A TEENAGE AMNESIAC. It was written in Los Angeles, California from January to May 2005 before any of my books had been published but after ELSEWHERE and MARGARETTOWN had been written.
                            
                              The major differences (and my memory is somewhat dim, ha!) were that Naomi lived in New York City and had dropped out of school entirely. A version of Ace Zuckerman appears in this chapter but he is called Greg Mantis. I had not yet invented Will or James. Rosa Rivera also appears though she is NOT Naomi's father's love interest. The primary reason (there were many!) I abandoned this was because having Naomi drop out of high school cut the legs off of so much of the potential drama. 
                            
                              All in all, I think it is an interesting start, but deeply flawed because it locked me into too many things narratively-speaking. Also and most significantly, I hadn't figured out that I was writing a love story.
                            
                            http://memoirsofa.com/Attachments/Memoirs_origch1.pdf
                          
                              P.S. I'll be posting additional deleted scenes all summer long so check back!