I remember I was working with one of my authors and her editor early on at Greyhaus. The editor was concerned about an element in the storyline and was trying to get the author to add all of this backstory and additional layering to justify why the character was not interested in a relationship at that time. Honestly, while it seemed probably from the editors point of view, as an easy fix, it would have involved a huge rewrite of over 50% of the book.
Not necessary.
As we discussed it, the solution was amazingly simple. We made him a widower. Yes, we off'd the prior wife. Of course he was not ready to move on. The solution took up a couple of paragraphs, we had full justification for not moving on, and the solution was fixed quickly.
More often than not, you will be faced with a situation that might involve making a change. Before you go into over-drive, take the time to figure out what the underlying problem is. Is it an issue where you just need to get the character out of the house? Is it something such as a time sequence? In a lot of cases, this can be fixed with something relatively easy.
Unfortunately, too many authors make it harder than it needs to be. Some of this comes from just being too attached to the story and you cannot see beyond the original concept you had planned. In other cases, you are following the lead of people who many not see the entire story and just start giving you unhelpful advice. It may also be that you are not looking at the big picture of things with your story. In this last case, it is just looking at the scene in question but not thinking about the impact it will have on the entire story.
So, before you take that huge chainsaw to your book, stop and think. You may just need to fix one issue only.
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