The Lunar Chronicles - Deleted Scenes

vi.

I'll be posting a new deleted scene or excerpt from The Lunar Chronicles every Friday through January 27, spanning the releases of on December 6 and on January 31.

SPOILERS WARNING: Even though this scene was ultimately deleted (or heavily altered), it still contains information and references to things that did make it into the book. I strongly encourage readers to enjoy the published books before proceeding!

Before we get to today's scene, here's a timeline...

A few questions have come up regarding the timeline of writing these drafts, so I thought I'd give a little timeline. As far as I can remember, the writing of this series went something like this:

Late 2008: Wrote the first drafts of Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, all at once, back to back.

2008-late 2010: Revised Cinder; sold Cinder to publisher.

Early 2011: Wrote the first draft of Winter. (I was seriously paranoid about the first book publishing before I'd "completed" the series, in case I discovered something that I wanted to go back and change.)

Early to mid-2011: Completed final revisions on Cinder, with editor's input. Note: She was the one who suggested that maybe, possibly, I wanted to keep Iko around? Clearly, she was right! However, I only wanted there to be seven crew members by the time Winter joins the group (a la Snow White and the Seven Dwarves!), so if I was keeping Iko, that meant someone else had to go at some point... (Hence, the death at the end of Cress.)

2011-early 2012: Revised and turned in Scarlet. Iko rejoins the crew in second draft.

2012-early 2013: Revised and turned in Cress. It is virtually unrecognizable from first draft.

Early to mid-2013: Keep getting stuck trying to revise Winter.

Late 2013: Write Fairest. Learn a lot about Levana!

2013-early 2014: Revise, revise, revise Winter and finally turn it in after what seemed like AGES.

The end.

Lunar Chronicles Deleted Scene #6

(Part 1 of 2)

From: Winter, 1st draft

Featuring: Almost Everyone

Helpful set-up: This scene took place after , in which Princess Winter had just joined the crew of the Rampion. Since then, Levana has learned that Winter is with the crew, and has offered a trade: Jacin, in exchange for Cinder. (DUN DUN DUN.) Cinder, being Cinder, agreed to the trade, and she and Thorne have left to meet with Levana and make the exchange.

Oh, and at some point Jacin tried to make a run for it and cut his hair in an attempt to disguise himself. That's not really important, but I didn't want all the fanartists to worry.

* * *

There was a sense of agitation in the ship. Winter could feel it not only in her own squirming stomach and humming nerves, but in all her new companions as well. No one had said much in the two hours since Cinder and the captain had debarked, leaving them all to wait with bated breath to see if the captain would return.

There was little hope he would be coming back with Cinder, and though that filled with Winter with anxiety—Princess Selene! Their one hope!—her thoughts turned more often to Jacin.