The aim of a writer is usually to see the wordcount going up. Sometimes, though, it can be a good thing to see it going down.
Today, I've been editing a piece of work, prior to moving on to the next big plot development.
I've cut a whole section of one scene because I decided that it wasn't working as I'd written it. I eliminated a character that I'd introduced for a particular purpose because I decided that he was unnecessary.
I then had to go back and delete a few sentences in an earlier chapter where he was first mentioned. Since he now won't appear at all, there's no point in having any of the characters refer to him. I've also had to rewrite a later scene so that the information this gentleman was going to pass on is revealed in a different way.
Elsewhere, I had two other characters having essentially the same conversation in two different chapters. One of those conversations has now gone.
However carefully one plans (and I don't!) wrong turnings and repetitions are bound to occur. Deleting words one has spent time and effort on is discouraging, but the end result should be a more tightly written, faster paced piece of work.
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