"Kill Your Darlings" | What It Means & How to Do It

[@corrinthe]

This is one of the most useful things i ever watched, ive been ripping into to my ms killing darlings like you would not believe. i just never thought to myself NO ONE IS GOING TO MISS THEM. Ive got literally hundreds of thousands of words that can go, had no idea what a millstone they were!!! I kept taking things out before then putting them back as something seemed to be missing i never realised that was only to me. Ive since read some articles on identifying what can go & Im loving it. This monster was 600,000 words 70% of which was purple prose. I was so attached to it all and now I'm just...not. it's incredible and was pretty much instant. Thank you for starting me on this path it's fantastic.

[@j22ksd]

My point exactly. Writers should prioritize the overall story, not its individual points. I had to save and delete so many moments I loved in my book because it didn't make sense in the overall plot. I wished I had discovered that video earlier. This would've save me a lot of headaches with stubborn critique partners.

[@TomorrowWeLive]

By now my "Usable Fragments" doc is about as long as an actual novel...

[@PossumMedic]

Great advice! Not only for writing but for life! Thanks for the great vid! :D

[@Aliaskitfisto]

As an author who has just finished a second draft, I am awaiting feedback from an outside reader so that I can go about this process. I'm torn between knowing that I get to be more creative with things that I cut while simultaneously having to cut things that I created for a specific story 😀😭

[@MissHolliday3110]

I use Google Docs and keep my deleted text in the Keep section.

[@skaetur1]

...and then?

[@liliamuseum196]

I should do that too

[@noheroespublishing1907]

A "Revolutionary" application.

[@fet1612]

Good piece of advice!

[@catherineebunilo4915]

Thank you. I will keep all of this in mind and come back to it later or dig it up whenever I need it

[@theoatmanite]

Awesome video 👍

[@efosaagbonson1581]

I love my darlings...especially if they are characters...it is for my mental health I keep my darlings alive....if these darlings are otherwise other than characters....I just might be able to kill them.

[@PossumMedic]

have you thought of writing stories just for you (or friends, family or blog) to keep them alive but out of the way of your main goal?

[@222FlowFilms]

4:15 - 5:10 kill ya darlings lol

[@rajashekharnarayan4717]

Hmmmm , Good 😊👍

[@itsallagame2013]

Memorable characters are killed, and Sean Bean too ... sniff

[@p.e.gilbertauthor3036]

@justforlaughs Haha! Sean Bean usually plays memorable characters. It's like killing two birds with one stone

[@sfnadim]

its not always to make it better, right?

[@Razz_Rayhan]

hi