Jessica Steiner (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jessicasteiner) wrote2013-04-13 08:47 am
jessicasteiner) wrote2013-04-13 08:47 am
Entry tags:
K for Killing Your Darlings #atozchallenge
I'm catching up again! I spent the entire day yesterday in the car so there was no opportunity to do my blog post. So expect to see two posts from me today if I get a chance to do them both.
But on to the carnage.
Most people who've studied creative writing in any sense have probably heard the advice "Kill your Darlings". I first heard it when I was about 17, taking a creative writing course offered through my high school.
Though it seems like a fairly simple piece of advice, it took me a long time to really understand what it means. It means that just because a piece of writing is brilliant, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't cut it if cutting it is the right thing to do. You might weep at your prose, or fall utterly in love with a character, but you might still have to remove it from your novel.
If you ever find yourself editing and think "Oh man, this doesn't fit/I need to cut this scene/This character isn't necessary to the plot but I want to keep it anyway because it's just so great", then cut it anyway.
But save it. You may be able to use it later. That character you adore can be the main character in your next book. That prose you wrote that just killed your heart, maybe you can work it into something else. Or maybe not. But whatever doesn't fit in your current work has to go.
But on to the carnage.
Most people who've studied creative writing in any sense have probably heard the advice "Kill your Darlings". I first heard it when I was about 17, taking a creative writing course offered through my high school.
Though it seems like a fairly simple piece of advice, it took me a long time to really understand what it means. It means that just because a piece of writing is brilliant, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't cut it if cutting it is the right thing to do. You might weep at your prose, or fall utterly in love with a character, but you might still have to remove it from your novel.
If you ever find yourself editing and think "Oh man, this doesn't fit/I need to cut this scene/This character isn't necessary to the plot but I want to keep it anyway because it's just so great", then cut it anyway.
But save it. You may be able to use it later. That character you adore can be the main character in your next book. That prose you wrote that just killed your heart, maybe you can work it into something else. Or maybe not. But whatever doesn't fit in your current work has to go.