My first draft was full of errors. There were too many characters which I reduced to eight, which is acceptable, although five or six is the norm for most genres of novels. By characters, I mean those whose presence will be virtually continuous throughout the novel.
I received two qualified literary opinions of my first draft. They both drew the same conclusion. There were at least five or six novels in my first draft, and too many characters leading me astray.
I had the beginning, middle and end to my main plot and storyline, amongst other storylines. The excess of characters led me off on unnecessary tangents and took the focus off my protagonist.
Things became much clearer when I reduced the characters and concentrated on one main storyline and one main outcome.
I wonder if trying to cram to much into a novel is a common error?
Thanks for your comments. Had not considered it an issue for me.
That being said I will look out for it as I do my second edit
I should think it probably is
My second story was a (physical) journey and it was tempting to follow the MCs along the road as they went. Problem was, that would've led to a lot of pretty boring stretches where nothing much happened, so I cut them out.
Then the problem was how to write linking passages between scenes *sigh*
It is for me, I ended up having three smaller stories in my one novel. I had to do a lot of revision on it and, in the end, I had to give the characters their own story thanks to going so far into their pasts.