Special Feature

Posted on by scott

Update: I won’t be posting again till Sunday (in the US). Return to your regularly scheduled duties!

You know on DVDs when you get to watch deleted scenes? I always like those, because they teach you a bit about filmaking. As a wise teacher once told me, the eraser is most important part of the pencil.

Well, here’s a whole scene that didn’t make it into Specials. It was supposed to start on page 147, when Tally and Shay are tracking Zane and the other Crims across the wild.

Read it first, and then I’ll tell you why it was in there and, more importantly, why I took it out.

“Hush.”

“Look, Shay, I know that I—”

“No, hush, Tally.” Shay’s nose was in the air, her eyes closed. “Do you smell that?”

“What?” Then Tally smelled it too. “It’s smoke, isn’t it?”

Shay was slowly shaking her head. “Yeah, but it’s not some campfire, Tally. It smells big.” She made an interface gesture, then pointed directly upwind. “Look.”

Tally flipped down her infrared overlay and peered into the darkness. In the distance, she saw glimmering streak of orange laying across the horizon. The fire wasn’t only big, it was far away. Tens of kilometers in the distance, it was spreading slowly along a forested ridge line. A ghostly wall of heat rose up from it, turning an iridescent yellow as Tally tuned her infrared.

“A forest fire?” Tally said. “But there’s no lightning tonight.”

Shay nodded. “None at all. Looks like somebody made a little mistake.” She angled her board forward. “Let’s check it out.”

For a moment, Tally hesitated. If the two of them stumbled on the New Smoke by accident tonight, then there’d be no point in letting Zane escape. Their plan for making him a Special would fall apart.

But there was no way to protest without sounding totally random. Forest fires didn’t pop out of nowhere, so this one had been set by humans. That meant that someone else was out there in the wild, farther than any camp-happy city pretty would dare to go.

This was a Special Circumstance.

Without another word, Tally tipped her board forward and followed Shay into the darkness.

The fire had grown huge by the time they got there.

As they approached, the smoke rolled down the valley, too thick to see through and dense enough to choke even a Special’s lungs. It drove them out of the downwind path and around to higher ground. They climbed a nearby hilltop, where Shay paused to watch the .

Even from a few hundred meters, Tally could feel the heat. It sucked the moisture from the air, and the pine needles on the trees looked dry and dangerous, ready to explode if the fire managed to reach them.

The wind was at her back now, pressing her toward the inferno. It had become a ravenous thing, sucking air from all directions to feed its hunger.

“Be careful around here,” Shay said, looking up at the stars.

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“No, I don’t mean the fire. This is a restricted area.”

“Restricted?” Tally asked. “How do you mean?”

Shay didn’t answer except to say, “Just be careful and stick close to me. Move slow, and if you feeling funny, pull back.”

Tally glanced at the sky, calculating the path that had taken them here. There was no place Specials were restricted from, not that she knew about. Of course, she hadn’t gone anywhere on her own since turning special, either.

End of deleted scene.

A forest fire? What’s that all about?

Well, I knew that I wanted all the main characters to come back in Specials. And since Tally was out in the wild, it was the right time to have her run into Andrew Simpson Smith. But I had to make that happen somehow.

My first idea, shown here, was that Andrew would be leading an escape from his reservation by starting a forest fire to burn the “little men.” (Those nerve janglers that keep the villagers inside their borders.) Tally and Shay would smell the smoke and head that way. They would have an action-packed firefighting scene, then meet Andrew, and Tally would get a chance to recall a piece of her pre-Special past.

Action, plot point, character development. What’s not to love?

Well, the problem was, it was sort of whopping coincidence that Andrew would be setting his forest fire exactly when Tally left town. Maybe that was too easy.

This is the sort of problem writers face all the time: You want something to happen, but it’s tricky to make it work without getting your big fat fingerprints all over it. It’s like in the horror movie when there’s a scary noise in the basement, and seeing as how six people are already missing, NOBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND would go down in the basement to check. But somebody announces “I’m not afraid” and goes to their doom, because the writer’s too lazy to think of a real motivation for them to.

It doesn’t happen because it make sense, but because it moves the plot along.

Coincidences are just as lazy. So I threw out the 500 words above and rethought how to introduce Andrew.

I decided that Andrew had already escaped the reservation, since he’s had a few months to try since Tally told him the world had no walls around it. By now he was helping the New Smokies with runaways. And given that Zane and the Crims were still hooked up with the New Smokies and were running away, they would know where to rendezvous with Andrew.

Much less coincidence-y. And, as always, the writing gods shower rewards on those who don’t take the easy way out. I realized that Andrew would be giving out directions to the New Smoke (aka Diego). This creates a whole new conflict between Tally and Shay, who must decide whether to follow Zane or Andrew’s locator.

Conflict is always good! And Tally’s choice shows us how she’s still Tally; she cares more about taking care of Zane than taking down the New Smoke.

I still got my action scene (Tally stalking Andrew), a much better plot point, and some character development.

Anyway, that’s my director’s commentary. Hope you enjoyed this deleted scene.

A quick note for the sleepless: I know you’re all dying to win Extras samplers. But I won’t be posting between the hours of 11PM and 11AM US Eastern Time, so you don’t have to stay up all night madly refreshing. Sleep!

Also, I’ll usually post between 7PM and 11PM US EST, which is 9AM to 1PM Sydney time, so that folks in Australia can win too! (Sorry, Perth.)

344 thoughts on “Special Feature”

  11. Guess what. I commented in the same minuet the first person did! I missed it by seconds!

  12. i was having my parental unit typre her password so i could try to find the chatroom

  13. oh well. now I don’t have to stay up all night. yayness. i’ll still stay up though

  17. AAHhh he said he wouldnt post til tommorrow … and he wrote that this morning *weeps* so unfair

  18. sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep thanks scott, but its a bit mean of you to not give us copies, we didnt sleep

  33. that is so unfair. people i need help getting to the chat room. grrrr! kheidi-la cheack the other post. @ the bottom. kkkk

  35. I had to get my sisters ready for swimming.

    Alas, my parents were happy with me, that’s all that matters in the long run!

  38. p.s.
    scott i loved the deleted scene.
    i never thought about how lame some coincedences can be.
    you are really helping us aspiring writers.

  41. thaks for letting us know so i can sleep. thanks for sayng eastern because i live in georgia

  46. did scott read the comments on 100 sk8ers? it would be funny if he did and he laughed at us!

  47. Amy-la i live in georgia to. thats so cool and my aim is Red1Der1995. please invite me into the chat room!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am so bord!!!!!!!!!

  48. its so nice that your giving away *autographed* books that havent even come out yet… its so awesome

  49. grrrr! i want one so bad. and thanks a lot for saying eastern time! i live in minnesota! how is that suppost to work? and nice job guys! was that 5 in the morning? i slept in till 11! lucky me! NOT! and by the way scoot i would love it if you would at least say something about how your email address is to long. not to mension changing it.

  54. GRIEF. I just checked this page like an hour ago, and now there are 53 comments?! I am liking the many new posts, though. Usually you go far too long between posts.

  55. Darnit. I missed again. But I’m done with beating myself up over playing Bouncy Supreme on neopets instead of hitting refresh so yeah xD

    CURSE YOU, BOUNCY SUPREME!

    Ok, NOW I’m done ^^

  57. this is what i get for watching Stranger Than Fiction instead of being on the computer!!!

  59. Well, I’m pretty late for this. But I don’t care so much about the sampler anymore. It’s only the first three chapters; I can wait till October 2.

  78. I love deleted scenes.
    My dad says they are stupid because they didn’t make it into the movie so why should we watch them now.
    To me though when you love a movie – or, I suppose, a book – and you love the characters then you want as much of them as you can get. Right?

    Have a good weekend, everybody!

  85. ok so this is not working but i shall try later and if it does not work later i might break down into a little ball rocking back and forth! look for me later!!!!!!!!!! …please:)

  89. He says he won’t be blogging until Sunday but what if it’s a trick……..hmnnn…o i want to be in the chat room as well

  91. Wait what chatroom….and he didn’t post this blog between 7 and 11 i need consistency. Oh and another thing to scott i’m glad you cut that part out it sounded a little forced you know kinda…..weak sorry i’m soooo not an author but thats just my opinion.

  92. there’s a chatroom so we all don’t have to refresh so much and they are all there……

  93. I do agree with what u said bout the delete scene. coincidences in a book or a movie can make the story unrealistic. i am really not into scary movies because a lot of them have too many coincidences. and hardly no motive for the actions the characters do. til later.

  98. Oh, man. Telling us when you’ll post takes all the fun out of it for those who uhm…researched. I made a chart and everything, and it was totally accurate! Oh, well. I guess now it depends upon the rate at which people can click refresh.

  108. Oh, phooey!
    My lappy decided to have a meltdown at the exact wrong time.

    October 2nd. I can make a comeback!

  109. darn it…everyone left for the chat room…this is what i get for having overprotective parents who think i’ll get abducted if i get aim! and hey i was at work NOT FAIR! and scott lied he said he wouldn’t post till tomorrow and it’s still today!

  111. yeah it stinks…and it’s kinda more fun when he doesn’t tell us the next time he’s gonna post–there’s more suspense! but i guess he didn’t want to have the burden of knowing that he was keeping innocent kids up all night.

  113. im kind of confused. it says you posted this on july 7th. its still july 6th @ 6:44 pm (i live in connecticut). hmm?

  116. holly–the site’s set in australia time, so all the post’s are 15 hours ahead. yeah i live in NY, in the same time zone as CT.

  119. I thought it was a really good start, but yeah you are right it IS too much of a coincidence.

    This is why I love your books, you always throw out the stuff that seems too obvious and put in some new twist making things 10 times better!

    Congrats to the winner by the way 😀

  120. Well how do you get to the chat room i don’t get it. Does it have his blogs on there or something?

  121. I woke up so early this morning just to be the first person to comment!I got up at 9(ok maybe its not that early but still)i was the first person to comment!!so a little word of advice to other Uglies Fanatics… if you wake up early you will most likely be the first person to comment(especially since its summer and no one waks ep early in the summer!!sept me)

  132. Well Amy-La I am betting that since Scott posted specific days and times, everyone won’t be sitting on here 24/7 anymore.

    So I guess last post was the one and only 1000 comment post 😛

  138. or maybe scott could let us win… then we will sleep… promise… look at what 3 chapters and an autograph can do to crazy teens obsessed with a freaky good authors writing….

  144. love it
    hey maybe the note to the sleepless was to us
    but he needs to say kheidi-la and ally-wa go to bed!

  153. Ooooo!! Yay! Deleted scene!! Fun stuff.
    I want some more of those!!
    Scott, if you read this, where were you going with that restricted area stuff???
    Is that in Specials and I completely missed it?
    Or something else you deleted??
    Hmmm… pondering…

    Thanks for the tip for aspiring writers, though.
    I hate plot-movers that really don’t make any sense. Lazy authors are bad authors.
    Well, not bad… Just.. Lazy. Hah, funny that.

  154. it took a while but we decided we are the SCOTTW… get aload of this … sleepless cult of two teen westerfans… we rule

  158. totally ally-wa and if you cant get to us right away were chatting only checking every few min so be patient… we will come…

  161. uggg… 2am and no one new ally-wa these people dont know how to be hardcore fans…sticking with it no matter what… well hope you pplz enjoy your weekend and if you want to chat find the room and will be their or talking to each outside of it but well check back eventually… if only you sleepers woulnt sleep so much… go S.C.O.T.T.W

  163. just checking again … so glad the chat room is faster… scott thanks so much for the deleted scene it was coinsedent-y bur still good

  170. yay! talking to myself!! haha im using my dads girlfriends laptop! yess! a laptop!! hahah…

    soo exited i got new earphones for my ipod and (drum rool) the’re blue! and i also got a new camra phone but thats not as exiting.. kindaof sleep deprived here! hahahah

  173. one of my best friends is in new zealand and i cant talk to her for a whole week!! soo sad… sorry, just trying to vent my pain

  175. wow my two favorite athors have new books coming out and so does my second favorite..
    (1st)scott had Extras ( duh)
    (1st also)Stephenie Meyer has Eclipes
    (2nd)and JK Rowling had The deathly hallows…
    wow

  178. i knda close the blog and forgot to check… sry pplz… im busy during the day do my scheduled duties but will check in when possible …. but later tonight ill be on again… all night… go no sleeping

  179. we will probabaly fall over or something … ally-wa would you like to comment-y something… we are sooo bored … going offline… seee ya

  180. Wow people are still on x.x

    And to answer Lil’s question. The restricted area was the enclosed camp where Tally got trapped and met the villagers and Andrew Simpson Smith in the last book, Pretties.

  181. just checking in… o sry for not answering your Q Lil, thnks ashangelak…. those caffiene drips sound good to me right now… bye bye

  182. hey i diddn’t remember that Extras would not have Tally in it I thought it would continue…………..damn!

  184. hello? we don’t have a lot of people right now. 3 but accutaly 2 cause 1 is asleep. i think. Ally-Wa all nighter did not go as you planed did it. i hope ur getting some good zzzzzzzZZZZZzzzzz

  185. Oh poop. Me & Sleep. Maybe I should quit this addiction. Only until I get an Extras sample book.

  186. checking in again…. people are finally waking up… i need an ice cold shower… very bubbly-making dont ya think…

  192. oh well ill still talk to you… (words might slur… go s.c.o.t.t.w.) like the name it took us an hour to figure out

  196. I’ve got writers block
    what do you think if I combinded all my short stories into one?

  200. allichie you could go back to writning on stone … how… vintage-making (made it up so if its bad forget i said it cant think straight)

  203. Ally-wa’s away message said she going rummage sailing like through the ocean blue of stuff… shell be on like around 1 she said… s.c.o.t.t.w lives…

  208. well i got to go and be noraml my parents say and got to go outside in the sweltering heat (even though is only 1130am here) and ill try to be later with ally-wa… s.c.o.t.t.w. lives… and scott if you read this you should know by now we are just a little obsesssed with your writing…. got anymore deleted scenes… bye pplz

  213. I dont care if scott says he wont post until sunday, i will not leave the house sleep, or do anything productive until i get the sample copy of EXTRAS
    i am a sleepless hardcore westerfan

  214. Hey guys I’m Back.. Sorry about that. My mom woke up and found me on the computer and said if I wanted to stay awake this late I have to clean up my room.. So i did and (it wasnt all that clean) and my lovley little sister decided she would restart the computer and I lost the chatroomand all the stuff that was up.

    So we r good now.. no more cleaning my room in the middle of the night.

  217. im back… briefly… hot outside… really hot… well i can talk for like minutes…

  220. back again… having a cookout tonight at 5… yeah how… umm fun?… not really cant be on during then so yah… see you pplz tonight

  221. GAH! Scott, when does Leviathan come out. Oh, and watch Farscape. Because of Leviathan. Wee…

  226. cookout starting… see you guys later and to pass the time i rearead parts of pretties and specials… i feel sorry for what david went through …. why are you so mean to the people in these books scott huh what did they ever do to you?

  228. Wow. That made me think, and I like it when that happens. Considering jet lag, (bonding moment), I was able to successfully access a computer. YAY! I had been trying to get my mom to read all of my favorite books, so my mom finally gave up and asked us to select one book to read on the plane ride. Without hesitation, we said “Uglies” Heh…heh… my mom is mad because we didn’t bring “Pretties”

  229. Im bak! yay i had sleep and even a HOT shower! and he didnt post whilst i was gone, how happy-makeing!

  243. in melbourne the weather can be really hot and then pouring later in the day. Its kind of a personal joke that melbourne shares “melbourne weather” we call it. its gr8 cause there are heaps of beaches.
    There arnt wild kangaroos everywhere, btw. there arnt many in melbourne, they live in country areas and where there is lots of bush and stuff. when i go on hols to bushy places I see them all the time.

  244. cool,
    michigan is the state shaped like a mitten
    we’re surrounded by beaches are there are lakes every few miles
    sometimes in summer we visit our cottage on an Island in lake Huron
    Lansing is sunny and warn for a few days and then it’s cold and rainy for a day

  251. so not zzz-ing cookout done… boring… i wrote in my notebook the whole time… so anti-social of me

  254. Dee- I looooooooove twilight and new moon
    (sorry my dad forced me from the computer)
    Hey Ally-wa
    Hey Kheidi-la

  264. yes! i also read from Jacobs p.o.v wich i loved cause hes my fave character, along with Alice

  268. Eclipse is a book in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
    Kheidi-la: go out and read it!!!

  271. came across maureens blog…. umm scott were you ok i mean did you really want to steal the New York Times helicopter to go to Baltimore to go to the hubble telescope observitory lol… choppers kiddo choppers… lol

  277. scott your surrounded tell us why still a helicpter with no pilot at least get a pilot…

  281. lol me too! i think ill order it from the bookshop or somthing so i know when it gets there.
    Scott you should post the first chapters for us to see too!

  282. thats a great idea!
    although it would kinda defeat the perpose of giving away samplers to the first commenter

  283. lol yeah it would. Scott, after you have given away all the samples THEN could u post them? they wont be sighned (duh) and they wont have the cover or anything so we still have a reason th keep posting!! Who’s with me?

  287. I still would, but i might not stay up until 12pm anymore lol P.S virtual hi-five Allichie!

  294. its 11pm here so scott its sunday for u … u can now post… ally-wa and me are waiting

  297. Good, ’cause I was at a wedding. But I have church tomorrow, and sleep tonight. Looks like I’m screwed with this whole stalk Westerfield’s blog thing.

  299. 1130 pm here 4 pplz are in the chat room… chelsea-la amy-la ally-wa and me we rule but unfornunately…. s.c.o.t.t.w. shall win (look at comments after 133 for info on scottw) thanks post scott post

  302. hola pplz 1230 am almost scott we shall wait… ill be here 10 am sharp… or before… like now….

  308. 130am still up…. still laughing oh and what do you guys think of Trey instead of Troy (check my story on last post) it was what we came up with Trey and Caydn … hmm comment please… and scott we are waiting for more writing advice or anything you gives hungry for info… you could post about meeting maureen and the almost non-piloted trip in a helicoppter that you were going to steal…lol

  309. whatever i blog is the time for us so add an hour for scott like 130am july 8th sunday so he is at 230am sunday

  310. you know what would suck.
    is if kheidi-la and ally-wa
    you guys didn’t get the copies
    of extras
    eventhough you guys go on for like ever.
    but i have faith you will get them.

  314. dont worry ally-wa… scottw sticks together til the real scott gives us samplers then we can talk about it 9after days of catching up on sleep)…

  316. im gonna work on my story… ill be back around oh how about 420 should give me enough time to change troy… and work on that one scene… sry that i wont talk but i need the concentration or itll will never get done.

  321. lmao. yayness. crackers. and I noticed Tally blowing up on David was in Pretties… which I don’t have…

  322. I have to go guys.. sorry. I’m still not tired it’s just my battery is running out and I can’t get my charger without waking my brother up. well, it’s been fun. see you guys later today.. lol.

  324. Hey everyone.. I’m doing this on my phone in my room b/c my mom is up b/c she has to go to work. she leaves at around 6:30 so I will be back on then.. I think its like 4:35 or sumthin

  325. hey ally-wa it’s 7:41 my time which means it’s 6:41 your time which means you should be baaack nooow…i’m bored (in case you didn’t notice)

  326. still bored…was reading but have now finished book…boredness overwhelming…what happened to s.c.o.t.t.w and all the other hardcore sleepless scott fanatics?

  327. omg ppl the day horrible, while working on my story like try practically done with 2 sections my computer clams up (it better hav a pearl inside when im through with it) at neighbors had to wait til he got up… random sleepers… mahaha … i better work by time scott post *threaten computer* OH and scott i will listen to you and your smart ideas (saving my story would hav been smart but did i no) like an hour down the toilet… oh but on the sleepless front sry scott wont listen til samplers is mine… (which better be soon… bat in hand, he he…)

  328. i am taking a break from refreshing to tell scott (he probably won’t hear it) that he should post early today (still after 11) so that parents dont kill him

  330. computer alive… this is like mega-helens happy-making (scott can post now)…. I fixing my story … so much time wasted last night… tired could fall over off chair 9ahv pillow near by … post!

  333. cat-kha some of us call ourselves obsessive refreshers cuz well we are and so we can talk faster we created a chat room… if you want in please list aim s/n and someone will let you in

  334. oh scott i was reading past blog on how yiou chose uglies names… and that david was based on you slightly how could you be so mean to your self… counseling is needed (for all of us)

  335. i know i know alot of blogs by me but i have lots of questions pestering my insane mind… if tally is in extras does that mean david will back too?

  336. It was very nice of you to put that up there, very cool. I can’t wait for Extras.

  337. I’m on my phone again bc the computer is off bc theresba constent roll of thunder and VERY loud lightning. I will be on shortly hopfully if it doesn’t flash flood first

  338. oh and I can’t read the comments when I’m on my phone so sorry if anyone needes in or something.. ahh the power just went out.. scott better not post

  342. I love the whole story of Tally. I mean all the things that she goes through and all the self-discovery, awesome. I mean i was so into Specials that I creid when Zane died. I just felt so bad for Tally because of that loss. You are an amazing writer.

  344. i think tally told shay. i will always love the uglys books it makes me sad that i am such a fast raeder i read the extras in the first three hours i had it! grrrrrrr why cant i be slower

Comments are closed.