Cutting a Character

When I'm editing, I have found that certain elements that I at first thought were terrific, don't work as well as I had planned.  When I was writing W.B.S.F., there were a number of characters that upon a  later edit I decided were unnecessary.  I also added a new character which has it's own challenges.  

The problem with getting rid of an established character is that you then have to obliterate every reference to that person.  The more involved that character was in the story, the more references that need to be erased.  Plus, I had to make sure the story worked better without them.  Things needed to flow and make sense.  I didn't want the reader to go, "Hmm...something's missing here...what's going on?"  

I've been editing W.t.W.W.Y.N. and have come to the conclusion that I need to get rid of a character.  There's nothing inherently wrong with this character (a spunky FBI agent with a dog and a cat) except that she doesn't fit very well into the story.  I made the decision to focus on the main characters and that didn't leave a lot of room for character growth and involvement for Delia.  On the plus side (and more evidence that she should probably go) was that she's really only in four or five of the first 29 chapters.  That's just not enough to make her important to the story.  By disposing of her character, I'm hoping that I can keep the story tighter around the main characters and keep the story from going in the wrong direction.  

While poor Delia is getting cut out, I still like her character.  She has a unique personality, and I like her, so I'll just file her paragraphs away.  Maybe I'll find a story just for her someday.