#Kill all your darlings how to
#Kill all your darlings skin
#Kill all your darlings full
#Kill all your darlings download

Are they more fleshed out and real now? Yes? Great! Killing the darling characters benefited the storyline. Try combining two or three characters into one. Darling Charactersĭo you need forty-five characters? Of course not. Sorry but that pretty darling weakens your writing. You may love a phrase or sentence that sounds beautiful to your ear, but it has no purpose. Overly cute or witty turns of phrase must die. Good writing is concise and to the point. Resist the urge to over-explain.Īvoid purple prose. Don’t beat them over the head with this or that. One of the most common reasons to kill your darlings is if we’ve overemphasized in some way. What happens if you delete the scene? Did the story change? If no, kill that pesky darling.

#Kill all your darlings how to

How To Identify a Scene Darlingĭoes the scene have a purpose? If no, kill that darling.ĭoes the scene play well with others - does it interact with the scenes before and after it? If no, kill that darling.ĭoes the scene drive the plot forward or benefit the storyline? If no, kill that darling. You may never use the deleted paragraph/page/scene, but at least it’s available. You might be able to breathe new life into that dead darling for another book. To lessen the pain, save the deleted passages in a separate file marked “Darling Graveyard” or equivalent. Still, we must kill our darlings, no matter how much it stings.

#Kill all your darlings full

It’s not easy to delete a full page or an entire scene or chapter.

#Kill all your darlings download

Looking for more words that are often overused? Download this Editing Help: Crutch Words Checklist. Rewrite: For hours I gazed at the painting and the eyes never wavered. Original: I had gazed at the painting for hours and the eyes didn’t move. Also, if it’s clear the action is in the past, it can often be omitted. Twice is repetitive and clutters the writing. As a guide, used once in a sentence puts the action in past tense. Too many “had” words give the reader the impression the action took place prior to the main storyline. Rewrite: The most caring man I’d ever met moved out of state. Original: He moved out of state, but I miss him. Can you combine them into one sentence without losing the meaning? Rewrite: When he died, my soul shattered.Īlso search for places where “but” is used to connect two sentences. I’m not saying we should never use “and” or “but” to start a sentence, though editors might disagree.

The way to determine if “of” is needed is by reading the sentence with and without it.

#Kill all your darlings skin

Rewrite: When he neared, my skin tingled. Rewrite: When she severed their relationship, his heart stalled. Sometimes killing your darlings means combining/rewording sentences rather than merely removing filler. The only exception is if it’s used with purpose, like as a character cue word. Rewrite: An enormous dude with linebacker shoulders glared at me in the coffee line.Ĭonfession? I use “so” all the time online, but that doesn’t mean I leave the filler in my work. Original: So, this huge guy glared at me in the coffee line. Any time we tell the reader things like “I thought” or “He knew” or “She felt” or “I believe” we slip out of deep POV. “Believe” in this context is a telling word. Did you catch it?įinal Rewrite: All writers kill their darlings. The original and rewrite have a second darling. Rewrite: I believe all writers kill their darlings. Original: I believe that all writers kill their darlings. This darling litters many first drafts, but it can often be killed without any harm to the sentence. This darling should almost always be murdered. One of the first places to look is at filler words. If you can cut the word/sentence/paragraph/page/scene without disrupting the story, it’s a darling. If you have a scene that’s your best writing ever but it feels out-of-place, like it belongs in a different book, it’s a darling. If your beta readers are confused by it, but the thought of losing it shreds your soul, it’s a darling. If you’re desperately in love with a word/sentence/paragraph/page/scene, but you keep fighting with it to make it work, it’s a darling.