Drastic Revising

I just finished revising Chapter 4 of my novel.  Normally, I only have minor edits to something I have just finished (since the information is so fresh in my mind), but the feedback I received really helped me to see where the issues were.  This was by far the most drastic revision I have ever done - and the biggest headache!

I took out a lot of the dialogue and back-story, realizing that it was really heavy material to cover in a single chapter.  The information needs to be laced throughout the book, not just thrown at the reader all at once, I guess.  Who knew?  Here's to hoping that the chapter still makes some sense and leads me to great ideas for the next chapter.  The first draft of Chapter 5 is due to be critiqued next Wednesday.  That doesn't leave me with much time, even though I still need to read and do this thing called 'learning' about the craft on the side.

The first Harry Potter book is great.  One of my instructors suggested that I read through how the world is introduced to emphasize spreading out the material.  While this did help, I need to remember that the first book was intended for young adults (I think from 10-12) and the details are very simple and easy to understand.  The world I am building is a bit more complex and adult.  It seems there may be a lot more work needed when there is more material to cover, but is there really?  I mean, Rowlings seemed to introduce the magic/muggle worlds quite effectively with what seemed little effort.  Can I also accomplish this in my own novel?  I guess that means more revising...