Unnecessary writing

Okay, so we Southerners are known for our love of language, and also our tendency to talk in long drawn out phrases. Well, this Southern gal has a tendency to do the same in my writing. I find sometimes (okay, especially first drafts!) that I include a lot of stuff in my scenes that is just plain not needed. For example, recently I wrote a scene where my characters were at a bar, and they didn't need to do anything but look for a certain villain, or his henchmen, but instead, I found myself writing a long conversation between them that was unnecessary.

Quite easy to do. My characters are Southerners and their life is full of drama. Sometimes that dialogue between them is really important to me as their creator, but not so much for the reader. Gotta go, says I, and the cutting began.

It is a good revision tool to go through your work and slash out all of the unnecessary dialogue, description, or other scene setting that doesn't move your story along.

Your readers will thank you.

Hmm...looking over this post, I see a few places where I could do some work. Take out a that here, and adjective there....

Until next time, happy snipping!