Cut that unnecessary subplot…

And all the characters that went with it.

The latest way that I cut dead weight out of my story was to separate my core plot from world-building details. I had scenes, whole chapters, and subplots that I didn’t like anymore and knew weren’t necessary, but I didn’t want to delete them because they revealed something important about the world or plot that I would need later.

Before this round of revisions, I took time to separate what was actually happening in a particular scene/chapter from the goal of the section. I got out my notecards and wrote out the actions/scenes that I truly needed for the core story of the book. Then I put down relationships, details about the magic system, and back-story information that needed to be revealed to the reader somewhere in the book—but not necessarily where it currently was.

My mind was suddenly open to several possibilities as I matched up those notecards in new ways. As soon as I had the thought “maybe I can reveal this fact in an earlier scene or a new one.” I allowed myself to delete an entire subplot and set of characters that weren’t critical to the main storyline. Yes! Thousands of words gone! It was a mind blown kind of moment as well as a duh moment for me.

During the past week I expanded core scenes to include the important information from those deleted scenes. This also allowed me to put main characters in each other’s paths sooner which will improve the pace of act one. We are going to get this adventure rolling earlier than my last draft. So exciting!

So fellow writers, don’t fear the cutting. Sit down and trim the fat already by separating the information you need to deliver from the scene you have in front of you. The delete key can be your friend.