One of the big tensions of writing is removing unnecessary words vs. leaving them because this is how this would leave your mouth.

Then there's the megaworse problem: words, phrases, sentences, parentheses, paragraphs that you add because you are worried you aren't clear, coherent, etc.

Something I try to teach students - who are always afraid they can't reach word count - is that you can expand any writing as long as you want by just asking the question "Why?" over and over.

You can use other questions for the same kind of effect. "So what?" "What happens next?" "Where are we?" "How would my enemy attack this?" etc.

Still, at some point you need pruning shears and a spare afternoon.