Writer's Fallout Shelter

What everyone else has said is true. "Only you can decide." Perhaps you should go through, find the original storyline, and then pick out all the little subplots and compare them. Which ones are necessary to the piece and which ones can be discarded? This will free up your story and give a little leeway for any future ones.

As an example, I started writing a story at least six years ago and realized that it would work better as a young adult comic book instead of a novel. So I put it on the back burner, along with other original stories that were going nowhere, and concentrated on fanfics. That gave me enough practice to know exactly what should go into a story. A few weeks ago, while a friend was helping me with another original story, he mentioned something that worked beautifully with that first one I discarded. So you know what I did? I copy/pasted his suggestions into the original document, saved it, and put it on the back burner again.

A lot of times when you come across a clustered story and you want to push through it, the reader can tell. Certain sections are hard to read through and you can tell that the writer had difficulty writing the scene or chapters. That's something you want to stay away from. In most cases, I stick with the original storyline and then add to it as I go, slowly. Or even write out notes and sketches before you begin with the actual story so you know beforehand what will work out and what won't. Maybe you could pick out the subplots and make them their own story. Or even leave them for the sequal or something so it remains part of the original story. Having subplots is a wonderful backup idea and way to move the story along, but too many will be too much for the reader. It's like the editing process: sometimes you just have to discard your favorite part in order to benefit the entire story.