Cut or Not to Cut, That is The Question
I have a question for the hive mind. The upper middle-grade I’m revising is a bit edgier and darker than many-okay, it has two seriously dark scenes. I’m having a hard time deciding if it’s wiser to be a brave writer and leave the dark scenes as is, or be a safe writer and cut the dark scenes down as far as I can before I start querying.
I suspect this issue is bothering me because I’ve queried a fair number of manuscripts and am well aware that it doesn’t take much for an agent to stop reading. However, the darkness does occur late in the novel at the lowest point, and then the story rises again.
Any thoughts--or experiences with scenes you feared were too dark?
At this point, I am leaning toward being brave.