: Re: Should "plot" or storyline be the main determinant of what goes into a story? In writing a screenplay, I created a bunch of scenes, with about twice as much material in total as I needed.

@Debbie451

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It sounds like you're something of a discovery writer (aka pantser). You wrote lots and lots of material, and now you have to carve away everything which doesn't fit your plot. If you are a discovery writer rather than a planner, then removing all the parts which don't belong there is part of the process of writing your first draft.

Keep all the cool bits in a slush file. Maybe you can extract dialogue or ideas to reinsert later, either in this piece or a later one. Maybe you can just reread the individual scenes for your own enjoyment. Ultimately, every word in your finished product should serve your finished product — not be your entertainment.

Making the receptionist the confidante is an excellent example of making a boring-but-necessary character/scene into something important and plot-serving. (good job!) See if there's anything you can pull out of your cut scenes which can be similarly used to improve other boring-but-necessary bits.

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