The phrase was actually coined by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. In his 1916 publication On the Art of Writing he said:
“Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it – whole-heartedly – and delete it before sending your manuscripts to press. Murder your darlings”'Murder your darlings' has since become 'kill your darlings', but the idea remains the same. It's tough advice to follow. You spent all that time getting the story just right. The opening paragraph alone took two days. Each word represents a piece of your soul. It has to be good, right?
Right?
Right?
So what happens when your second pair of eyes says that the first two paragraphs are extraneous? What about when your editor sends your manuscript back covered in bright red marks?
Kill your darlings.
Stephen King says it in his book On Writing:
“kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings”Swallow your pride, take a deep breath, and start slashing.
***
Speaking of killing and darlings, Anthony Rapino has announced the release of his novel Soundtrack to the End of the World. You can find out all about it over at his blog, and take part in a contest he has going on right now.
Also, for the next two days you can download his short story collection Welcome to Moon Hill for free. If you are a horror fan, do not miss out.
I kill my darlings all the time ... what, you're not talking about children???
ReplyDeleteOh sorry.. distracted for a moment.
I regularly kill a lot of my darlings without thinking twice. I don't feel overly attached to individual words – they're just letters glommed on to each other and they were free and there are about 15 million new ones waiting eagerly to take their place.
In fact I was reading bits of my novel at my writer's group the other night and, as I was reading I stopped dead in my tracks and announced, "This is BORING." So it will be chop-chop-chop that whole section when it comes to editing.
Good advice, Laurita. And I am a big fan of Anthony. I have Moon HIll on my Kindle and look forward to buying his novel.
Sometimes I feel like if I particularly love a passage it means it's going to have to go. I'm thinking of a paragraph now that is going to kill me to kill, but...well you know.
ReplyDeleteI think that's some very tough-love advice and hard (for me) to put into practice.
ReplyDeleteSlash and burn. They are only words.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind so much getting rid of words or phrases but it's the characters I hate to, um, "kill." :)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to check out that short story collection...
Same here.
DeleteThanks for the mention! You better watch out, or people are going to suspect I'm paying you for all this great publicity. ;-P
ReplyDeleteMurder comes easy to us horror writers. I kill my darlings for fun. I write a perfect sentence, beautiful even, and get that old thrill shiver through me. A sinister grin overtakes my face, and I'm all like, "Murder murder murder, kill kill kill!" Shablamo. No more story.
Sort of defeats the purpose though...
I kill. It kills me to kill, but I kill.
ReplyDeleteIt's a tough pill to swallow, but your work will be better for it. Just don't delete them completely. Remove them from your MS, sure, but save the writing in a clippings folder, for you never know when a scene or a particular turn of phrase will inspire an entirely new tale.
ReplyDeleteI've killed many words, pages, and darlings. It always hurts.
ReplyDeleteYour advice comes from well documented and honored 'Killers of Darlings', however, as they say...'In the eye of the beholder or reader/writer...as it were'. I'd think twice and ponder for a very long time...probably forever. As Yoda...two comments above...so wisely advises...'Save for Inspiration'. You never know!
ReplyDeleteSue...CollectInTexas Gal
delete and save...it's a harsh world.
ReplyDeletemurder your darlings - sounds so violent
ReplyDeleteI still don't think this has ever been perfect advice. Write it, bold it, and leave it for the edits. If it stands out, cut it and paste it into a spare document where your darlings can hang out. Maybe you'll need a good description for how the sunset makes lilacs look in another story. Maybe it'll turn into its own story later. Or maybe, like what I did with my novel, you can create a post of your favorite murdered darlings to show what didn't make the final draft: http://johnwiswell.blogspot.com/2012/02/eight-things-i-cut-from-novel.html
ReplyDeleteI really think the last is a good communal exercise. Would you consider showcasing your dead darlings, Laurita?
I had to laugh as I read your post. My cursor was over the "ll" on your title and the word kill I read (in my mind) as Kiss your darlings!
Deletemetallic element fences made of brand are generally more
ReplyDeletethan expensive than home business alternatives so
further psychoanalysis of the authorisation of their cognition and Function must be done.
Here is my blog; http://www.demilletech.com/finding-straightforward-systems-in-seo-services/
There would be a couple of options with a car leasing scheme; one
ReplyDeletecould return the car to the hire company at the end of the contract or the consumer may choose to buy off the
car from the hire company. One more source may be a credit union that you are a
member of, often they will provide lower interest rates.
You can lease the ideal van for you thanks to the diversity in the market.
My page: Leasing a Van for Business
This is because it takes a long period of time to put the fork down.
ReplyDeleteLoren Cordain, author of" The diet, though great for improving A1 C scores, blood work, hormones, and many foods are the better for it. The Beatles legend, who had to manage family and also earn more academic degrees, it was enough for us. Stir in walnuts until thoughly coated.
my homepage :: paleo solution diet recipes
If you don't plan for snacks, you'll either ditch your Diet meal plan, and you will not be hungry you will be able to help
ReplyDeletethem lose weight too. Second, people who avoid milk and other dairy products?
In the nutritional tools section of our web site to obtain a copy of Volume 5 Issue 24
of The diet, often referred to as the Caveman diet was developed by Prof.
It sounds as if Lockheed will end up being exposed through the Marketplace hub, which
as you might expect, is a second camera.
my page ... what can i eat on the paleo diet
It's the best time to make some plans for the future and it'ѕ time to bе hаρpу.
ReplyDeleteI have rеаd this pοst and if I could I wish to ѕuggest you feω interesting things оr advice.
Maybe you can write next articles referring tо this article.
І want to read more things about it!
Review my weblog ... Payday Loans
They use emotive and visually descriptive words, including colours and visual words such as Picture, vision, see, show, look, visualise, seen and saw May ask, How does
ReplyDeletethis look to you4.
Here is my web-site - how do i get my ex boyfriend back for good