How do I 'trim the fat' without outright removing it entirely?

[Naruzeldamaster]

There are like two or three key scenes in my current project I'm struggling to sit down and write.
And I'm going to be blunt, one of the reasons is a good amount of them feels like filler.
One of these scenes (that I'm stuck on right now) could easily eat up a whole chapter on it's own if I wanted it to, but that would feel like padding.
The other two scenes are fairly short as is and could probably be shortened with some editing once I write them but i need to get past the monster of a scene first.

 

[Penpilot]

First, write down what the purpose of the scene is and what bits of info you're trying to get across to the reader are.

Then everything that doesn't help fulfill those things gets cut.

For short scenes, I do the same and then see if I can merge those things into a different scene.

And as just a general rule when I'm editing down, I try to look for redundancy and extraneous information to cut.

For example, lets take your post, and I hope I'm not coming off as a jerk, and if I am I apologize. That's not my intent. Your post is fine, but when we communicate casually, we tend to repeat and add extraneous bits. I'm sure I've done it in my post. But just as an example, if you want to cut the fat, your post could have been edited down as follows. The original post was 114 words. The edited post is 57, which is exactly half, and I don't think there's information lost.

How do I 'trim the fat' without outright removing it entirely?​

There are like two or three key scenes in my current project I'm struggling to sit down and write.
And I'm going to be blunt, one of the reasons is a good amount of them feels like filler.
One of these scenes (that I'm stuck on right now) could easily eat up a whole chapter on it's own if I wanted it to, but that would feel like padding.
The other two scenes are fairly short as is and could probably be shortened [more] with some editing once I write them but i need to get past the monster of a scene first.

 

[Diana Silver]

I think Penpilot has a good point, advicing to distill what's crucially important and leave the rest out.

Your question seems a little contradictory to me. For key scenes to feel like filler... then how are they key scenes? Could you explain what makes them key scenes? Will they contain critical information for the plot, or does the plot itself evolve there, or... what's so important?

In other words: what would go wrong with your story if the scenes were left out?

 

[The Dark One]

Moderate exercise?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[Finchbearer]

If they feel like filler scenes, then they are not scenes that need to be in the story, IMO.

The other approach you could take is to just write what’s in your head and edit from there. It’s easier to write too much and edit it later than to not have written enough in the first place.

 

[Prince of Spires]

Write them ugly and see how they are. It's hard to judge something that hasn't been written.

Though I do agree with Diana Silver that I have a hard time wrapping my head around a chapter being both crucial and filler. To me, those are opposite things.

A scene could be lacking in conflict, which is something different to being filler. If it's lacking in conflict, then either add conflict, or change the character POV, or something like that. Raise the stakes and take it from there.

Another option is that you feel the scene tells background information that the reader needs to know for the plot to make sense. There are multiple solutions to that. The main ones I can think of are that you could find a way to cut up the information and spread it throughout the book. Or find a natural way to have to explain the information to one of the characters. Or, if you're later in the book, just have a chapter of exposition. If you've earned the reader's trust, and the information is both crucial and entertaining, then the reader will either enjoy it, or forgive you for putting it in.

 

[Rexenm]

I’m a bit like that. In that if its not one thing its another. Currency is the real issue. What would get that cow prod to prod cow, chew the fat and all that.

 

[The Dark One]

Moderate exercise?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Okay, to answer properly...

Stay close to the spine of the story. If a scene doesn't kick the plot along (or at the very least contribute to characterisation) then it doesn't work and needs to go.

When my first novel was accepted, it was pretty flabby - 232k words. The publisher said: I love it and want to publish it, but I'm only publishing 160k words. It's up to you to cut it down.

We eventually compromised on 192k words and in getting it down, I cut out what was probably the funniest scene (in a fairly humorous book). It was really painful to lose that but it was 10 pages that took the plot nowhere (despite being hilarious).

Funnily enough, I'm a much better writer and editor now and would have no problem getting that 192 down to 160.

 

[pmmg]

I agree with Prince of Spires, write it ugly and get to the end. Then you will know with a lot of clarity what to do with the rewrite. (<--this is kind of rule 2 )

Then, I suggest you apply Penpilot's fat cutting methods

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

I think Penpilot has a good point, advicing to distill what's crucially important and leave the rest out.

Your question seems a little contradictory to me. For key scenes to feel like filler... then how are they key scenes? Could you explain what makes them key scenes? Will they contain critical information for the plot, or does the plot itself evolve there, or... what's so important?

In other words: what would go wrong with your story if the scenes were left out?

Not a lot, at least for the shorter scenes, the other two scenes are short enough that they could be left in with no big issue if I 'trimmed' them some.
The main scene has a story beat or two that help establish some more likable traits for the female lead along with her establishing headquarters and securing a mcguffin.

The length of the scene is an issue because the chapter it takes place in is already a bit long. So if I can I'd like to trim it a little bit while still delivering the required information/character development it'd be a cozy way to end the chapter. The female lead hasn't been portrayed in much of a negative light, but she is shown to be a bit abrasive/arrogant.

I feel like a lot of the scene could be done with narration though, and not like, full on dialogue + narration.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Don't forget, when you're talking about editing at this level, you're going to need to weight each and every word. And do what's called 'close reading,' which is a lot like weighing, only now you're trying to attribute meaning to everything.

You see why I left academia?

But yeah, close reading does have practical applications in the wild. I use it all the time, still.

 

[Mad Swede]

There are like two or three key scenes in my current project I'm struggling to sit down and write.
And I'm going to be blunt, one of the reasons is a good amount of them feels like filler.
One of these scenes (that I'm stuck on right now) could easily eat up a whole chapter on it's own if I wanted it to, but that would feel like padding.
The other two scenes are fairly short as is and could probably be shortened with some editing once I write them but i need to get past the monster of a scene first.

OK. You seem to feel that the scenes themselves are necessary, at least in some form, in order to give some depth to one of the protagonists. That suggests to me that what you need is a restructuring of several chapters, not some trimming of fat. So I would first ask myself if I could move the scenes to another point in the story. They might fit better there, and with a little editing might make the story as a whole flow better.

 

[Kalipso]

Ask yourself what the scenes reveal about the plot, the characters, the setting, etc. If it helps define a character or show their growth, maybe it does need to be there. If there are other scenes that already do that (and are more important), you can get rid of it. Basically: does the story change in a significant way if you get rid of them?

I will say, if you feel like it's filler, then it probably is filler. However, that doesn't mean you have to take an axe to everything. Maybe there's a sentence you really liked or some witty dialogue from those scenes. If so, see if you can simply move it somewhere else, like Mad Swede said. Take it paragraph by paragraph and then sentence by sentence until you've trimmed out what you're comfortable with.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Ask yourself what the scenes reveal about the plot, the characters, the setting, etc. If it helps define a character or show their growth, maybe it does need to be there. If there are other scenes that already do that (and are more important), you can get rid of it. Basically: does the story change in a significant way if you get rid of them?

I will say, if you feel like it's filler, then it probably is filler. However, that doesn't mean you have to take an axe to everything. Maybe there's a sentence you really liked or some witty dialogue from those scenes. If so, see if you can simply move it somewhere else, like Mad Swede said. Take it paragraph by paragraph and then sentence by sentence until you've trimmed out what you're comfortable with.

I feel like the bulk of the longer scene (it's largely character interaction, see my signature) can be handled through narration with the final bit being proper prose and that would trim it down quite a bit. The other two scenes could potentially be merged into one scene/conversation.