Worked on dystopian today, trying to get a clear flow for...

Worked on dystopian today, trying to get a clear flow for the first five chapters. I think they're basically working, maybe, and am now trying to trim out anything that heads down the smaller types of dead ends. By "smaller types of dead ends," I mean paragraphs that distract the reader from whatever the scene's really about. Sometimes a paragraph or two explains and deepens what's going on, and sometimes it muddies the scene or derails it or makes it peter out. I don't know any way to tell which is which except by revising the piece over and over and over, and seeing what reads best. And that's what I've been doing today.