If writing is rewriting, then certainly one of the underrated principles of writing is not only knowing what to leave in, but also knowing what to leave out.
In fact, it could be argued that knowing what to leave out is more important than knowing what to leave in. I have been a script reader for several years, and nothing is more obvious than when a writer has fallen in love with a scene that he or she has written, and can’t see that it does nothing for the story, or worse, stops the story in its tracks.
When you’re writing the script, it’s imperative to remember that everything has to serve the story. It is the overall story that you have to fall in love with, and not individual scenes or characters. You have to love the characters and the scenes enough to take them out if they’re not serving the greater story.
My favorite example of this comes from the world of animation. When I was in film school, one of my instructors was a former Disney animator, and at the time the Disney studio was working on the Human Again sequence for the DVD release of “Beauty and the Beast”. This animator was critical of the decision to add that sequence to the film, because there was a reason that it was taken out of the original film in the first place. It grinded the story to a screeching halt and created a scenario where there were back to back songs. I watched it when it came out, and agreed with him whole-heartedly. It was a much stronger film without that sequence.
How to avoid this in your own writing?
It’s important to have someone who is impartial read your script and evaluate it for you. A professional reader won’t have the same emotional attachment to any aspects of the story that you do. He or she will have an unbiased opinion of your work andwill also have the knowledge and experience to help determine what to leave in and what to leave out.
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