Too Much Stuff In Your Story

A common problem I find in many submission is an issue of adding too much "stuff." Authors add not just one but far too many internal conflicts for characters. Authors add a full cruise line full of secondary characters. Authors add so many external conflicts, if feels as if we are lost in a jungle. The problem with this, is that we lose focus on the central storyline and the protagonist(s).

Adding "stuff" is an issue to comes from a couple or areas: 1) Over-enthusiastic critique partners; and 2) an author trying to make word count. Neither are good reasons to add things to your story. Let's look at each.

Critique partners are there to help you, but too often, as they read the sample you sent them, they start adding in comments such as "I really wish I knew the backstory on [fill in the blank]." So the author, really taking the advise, dives in an creates an unnecessary backstory for the character. And then it goes to another critique partner who does the same thing. You can see how this is going. While it is good to know why a character does something, it is not necessary to create a full novel to just give us that information. Keep it simple. 

The second issue around word count is something that could be fixed if the author is a plotter. Yes, I know many of you think you cannot plot, but the reality is, if you don't know where you are going, you will end up where you don't want to be. The word count issue usually steps from a lack of plotting and a storyline that really doesn't have any significant conflict or point. If you have a romance where the hero and heroine already like each other and they just have to say yes to move the story forward, then you will have a problem. When we have stories like this (which happen way too much) the author just starts adding sub-plots and more complications just to make the story longer. Now the story becomes repetitive and flat.

The easiest solution to all of this is to ask if what you are putting in the story either advances the plot or gives the reader something new about the character. If not, leave it out!