Editing

You've heard the adage: a great book is not written, it's re written. In the many rewritten drafts the story is moulded and polished.
Well, I've learnt another truth. To discover the real story within one must 'dewrite'. It's in the deleting and the word reduction you really come to differentiate between what you like about the story with what is truly essential to entertain the reader. I guess it's a case of putting the reader's needs before the author's.
I had no idea I was having so much fun on my own. :) But now I know, I have reduced, reduce, reduce and the story is better for it. Now the forest is gone we can all see the wood for the trees.