Recently, I had a wonderfully productive day as a writer. I wrote 1,200 good words of fiction. For me, that is maybe a once or twice a year thing because on a typical day, my goal is to write 300 good words. If I can do that, I feel really good about what I’ve accomplished. This, however, is beside the point. What’s important is that less than 300 of those 1,200 words made it into the final draft of my short story.

So what does this mean for the other 900 words that were cut? Does it mean they were a waste of time? Does it mean they weren’t as good as I originally thought they were? No. It doesn’t. Each of those words pushed the story forward and helped me get to the end product. Had I not written those 900 additional words, there are several hundred other words that wouldn’t have made it on the page. The story probably would have gone in a different direction and I never would have met some of the characters I ended up meeting.

We cannot be afraid to cut parts of the story. Even good parts. In every piece I write, I fall in love with a few beautiful lines that do nothing to push the story forward. And usually, the thought of cutting those lines offends me. It seems unheard of, even inhumane. But when I finally get the courage to do it, the writing almost always gets better.

Sometimes the stakes are higher than a few lines. Sometimes entire conversations, scenes, characters, or chapters need to be cut. Do not despair. If you think a part needs to go, it probably does, but remember that nothing you write is wasted. You might use the cut portion in another story. I’ve done this several times. Or the words might end up buried in some draft that is never read. But that’s okay, too. In sports, show business, economics, etc., people often talk about what happens “behind the scenes.” They credit people and processes that don’t get public recognition but make the end-product a reality. Writing is no different. Those “behind the scene” words are as important as those that make it to the press.

So my suggestion is this: Trust your intuition. Let each word lead to the next and each idea to another. Don’t be afraid to write more than you need. And don’t hesitate to cut a line if it does nothing but look pretty on the page.