Editing is much harder than writing

Last fall as I prepared to complete the NaNoWriMo and produce my first novel in 30 days, I figured that the initial writing was going to be the toughest part.  I was so wrong!  That was the easy part.  The editing of what I wrote is so much harder.

As I was writing my novel I was free to let the ideas flow and capture the essence of the story on paper.  Now that I'm writing I not only have to make sure that the story flows, I have to make sure I have a constant voice and that I am truly painting the picture that I thought I was.  One of the toughest parts is deciding to remove material that seemed  crucial to the story but which adds no appreciable value.

In fact I have found there are a few sections that I wrote which do nothing for the story except bog it down and confuse the storyline.  Now I can't bear to actually delete these sections.  What I have done is removed them and placed them in another document for safe keeping in case I feel they have something to contribute to the story at a later date.  They are almost like children.  Just because they don't fit in doesn't mean we throw them away.  We keep them and nurture them so that they may blossom in their own time.

Who knows I may actually take some of these sections and create a new story.