The best writing advice I've ever gotten was from one of my college professors, Shauna Seliy. She said something to the effect of, writing a story is like climbing a mountain, and the words you use are like the contents of a backpack. You take only what you need to get to the top, because otherwise you are just carrying dead weight. So every word, sentence, paragraph, and scene that's in your story needs to help you get "to the top of the mountain," or to the end. All of the other stuff is just extraneous, and should be cut.

The best writing advice I've ever gotten was from one of my college professors, Shauna Seliy. She said something to the effect of, writing a story is like climbing a mountain, and the words you use are like the contents of a backpack. You take only what you need to get to the top, because otherwise you are just carrying dead weight. So every word, sentence, paragraph, and scene that's in your story needs to help you get "to the top of the mountain," or to the end. All of the other stuff is just extraneous, and should be cut.