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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38880
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

It sounds as though this is your first novel. Congratulations! You have accomplished something very few people ever do.

To answer your question, consider these points.

What is the arc of your story? Is there a main character, does he or she begin with a goal, is the goal evident up front, and does he or she then drive the plot? Does every scene serve the story from the reader's perspective, or are some there for your own needs to find the story? You might be able to cut the ones that exist for you instead of the reader.

If you are not familiar with story _structure_ I recommend googling that and spending some time learning what is meant by the major plot points in a typical novel. Inciting incident, point of no return, call to action, dark night of the soul, rededication, climax, denouement, ... these things exist in most successful stories in one form or another. It's useful to identify them in your own work.

Other parts of my answer include technical aspects of the craft. Do you have a consistent point of view? Are you using dialog tags, descriptions, setting, action, narrative appropriately and in balance?

**tl;dr: You will need to do a little analysis of your story. Identify the arc. Identify the structure. Identify the technical details of your writing. With those in hand, you can clarify the entire thing.**

But again, congrats!

Original score: 4