Addition by Subtraction

I have deleted more scenes that had that subplot in Killer Eyes I was talking about this week. It wasn't adding anything to the story. So it's better without it. At the time I wrote it, I was thinking it would be a good subplot, a little mysterious, and intriguing. But after reading it a couple times, I think that it wasn't successful. So it's gone now.

The thing is, writers have a tendency to NOT want to delete entire subplots, or anything else that took an effort, particularly if they think it's well written. They  call these parts of their manuscript "darlings" and have a natural aversion of deleting them. But you have to make the hard decision to delete them. It really is an example of addition by subtraction. That's all.