Serious question, my writing group told me to cut my 2 page intro down to one paragraph and now I can't tell if they were right

Wendy Garcia · 2026-09-30T00:00:04.929648+00:00

I brought 8 pages of a short story to my group in Phoenix last month and three people said the whole opening where I describe the main character's childhood house needed to go, that it was 2 pages of me clearing my throat before the actual story started. I tried it their way and the draft does move faster, but now I feel like the reader doesn't know the character at all and the ending lands flat without that setup. Is it always right to cut the backstory, or does trimming that stuff just make your writing feel skinnier?

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Serious question, my writing group told me to cut my 2 page intro down to one paragraph and now I can't tell if they were right | Crappy First Drafts - Guest Forum