Poor Abused Darlings

[filamena]

We've all heard it, right? Kill your darlings. Im told its one of those brilliant gems of writing advice that will fix your work. Im also told its one of those gems of writing advice a lot of people tend to get wrong

Comments

[machineiv]

I don't like the wording of the phrase "kill your darlings." I think it sounds kind of like, "Remove what you like." Although I understand the phrase, I just don't like it as a non contextual piece of advice.

In the situation where you used that phrase, the biggest thing that I need to fix is far from a darling, IMO. It may be a crutch and bad habit, but it's not something I like or appreciate about my writing. It's something I do need to work on, but I'd never use the word "darling" to describe it. I might use "nemesis."

I'm rather excited to start my rewrites later today.

[filamena]

I see what you're saying, but I've never looked at that trope to apply to mechanics. Might be the way I'm wired, but darlings never made me think of commas or overly long sentences.

See how much explanation it took you to get that through to my thick skull? I know I'm not -the- densest writer out there either. Maybe it's something were all supposed to know, maybe -that's- what they teach you in collage. I just feel like its a phrase tossed around lightly that has no substance without a lot of explanation but it's tossed around like its self explanatory. (And I'm not picking on you because you just used the phrase, I've been thinking about it for a while now. I've used it myself plenty of times.)

Maybe we should be saying 'break your crutches.'

[hollow_01]

I agree with Chuck. Being a professional writer means having the rules of communication stamped into your brain. Think of these rules as a fence.

Your darlings are free to play within the boundaries of these rules, but it's your job to make those boundaries as transparent as possible. You don't want your readers to notice them, and that's where it's good to have another set of critical eyes reading your work before it hits the streets.

Even the experts try running free once in a while.

[filamena]

I'm a big fan of transparent writing. I can't read a thing when it's written just to show me how GENIUS the writer is. I read a thing on its own merit and the only thing that holds me if I forget I'm reading.

Steven King talks about good writing being like telepathy. I write it, somewhere else, someone just sees it in their head. I love that idea.

[machineiv]

I took a college class with it as the text once. Great stuff, I adore it. I don't think I've read anything else that's made me actually want to write the way it did.