In a sense, the scenes in your novel are very much like pearls. Separately, they are lovely to look at but do not really add up to much until you string them all together. It is the same way with scenes–alone, they do not mean much, but all together they can be something priceless.
How do you decide when to cut a scene? With every scene you write, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
- Does this scene move the story forward?
- Is a new character(s) introduced?
- Is there a revelation or new information?
- Does the main character (MC) grow or change in some way? Or is something revealed about the MC (i.e., motivation, weakness, etc)
If a scene in your novel does none of these then you have two options: get the scissors out and cut it, or rewrite until you accomplish one of them.
Now that is not to say that every scene must be an edge of your seat kind of thing–that level of excitement would be impossible to maintain scene after scene. A scene as mundane as your MC going to work can move the story forward if we learn more about the character (for instance, how they work with others, what they think of their boss), or there is a revelation (i.e. they are laying people off thus your MC turns to a new career, someone has been putting rat poison in the coffee) or the motivation (your MC needs this job because she has four mouths to feed at home).
Admittedly, cutting out scenes is probably one of the hardest things to do. But in order to get a tight book and keep the reader turning the page, you must be merciless with the red pen. This is no time for sentimentality. You must approach it in a business-like manner.
Remember that the basic premise of each scene is to propel your story forward, not idle or stall.
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