Attention Writers! Please Refrain From Using the Phrase “Kill Your Darlings”

Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

1246

Abstract

s and books I work on with my clients every day contain countless unkilled darlings, I absolutely refuse to utter this phrase.</p><p id="7bf7">I’ve worked with hundreds of writers over the past three decades and I’ve never once told any of them to kill a darling.</p><p id="0ea8">Why?</p><p id="6304">I don’t want to tell anyone to kill anything. Even if it’s just words and characters and phrases. Killing creeps me out.</p><p id="1c3b">Also? For advice about trimming your work, it’s oddly over-the-top. If a word isn’t necessary? Just erase it. No need to slaughter it.</p><p id="d31a">Finally? “Kill Your Darlings”has become a great big whopping Writing Advice Cliche.</p><p id="7d79">Instead of parroting Faulkner (none of whose novels I’ve ever managed to finish, but that’s another essay) why not come up with your own way of communicating this important message?</p><p id="c8b6">Preferably, one that does not involve murder.</p><p id="08a8"><a href="https://rosalindwarren.medium.com/need-a-good-editor-get-in-touch-c3508093b772?sk=da811ef430b407044d2aff236d7c0570"><b><i>Writing Coach</i></b></a> <b><i>and editor-for-hire <a href="https://readmedium.com/about-me-roz-warren-efbecf511f04?sk=4ba4c8736b0dd97473598b22583e2090">Roz Warren</a

Options

</i></b>, <b><i>who</i></b> <b><i>writes for everyone from the <a href="https://readmedium.com/looking-for-a-terrific-paying-market-for-humor-and-cartoons-b24658bb9d5d?source=friends_link&sk=c8803f26bb5ce98c081a711c3768eed1">Funny Times</a> to <a href="https://readmedium.com/why-every-essay-you-write-should-be-the-best-essay-you-can-write-8c00f287f53?source=friends_link&sk=7e39aed6b3fb5e9d2b392a464682aba9">the New York Times</a></i></b>, <b><i>can help you improve and publish your work. Drop her a line at [email protected]. (That’s Ros with an “s,” not a “z.”)</i></b></p><div id="1979" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/need-a-good-editor-get-in-touch-c3508093b772"> <div> <div> <h2>Need a Good Editor? Get in Touch</h2> <div><h3>Is There Anything Wrong with Creating a Medium Post That’s Just an Ad for My Services as a Writing Coach?</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*eEMk0AwJcTZ2X98o)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

It’s Creepy. It’s Lazy. And I’m Tired of Reading It.

The phrase “in writing you must kill all your darlings” has been attributed to writer and Nobel prize laureate William Faulkner.

It means that writers must ruthlessly eliminate any words, characters, side plots or turns of phrase that we personally love but that do nothing for the story.

Is this good advice? You bet it is! Most published writing is, sadly, teeming with unkilled darlings.

And yet? I hate this phrase.

I am a Writing Coach. I help writers improve and publish their prose. Although the stories and essays and humor pieces and books I work on with my clients every day contain countless unkilled darlings, I absolutely refuse to utter this phrase.

I’ve worked with hundreds of writers over the past three decades and I’ve never once told any of them to kill a darling.

Why?

I don’t want to tell anyone to kill anything. Even if it’s just words and characters and phrases. Killing creeps me out.

Also? For advice about trimming your work, it’s oddly over-the-top. If a word isn’t necessary? Just erase it. No need to slaughter it.

Finally? “Kill Your Darlings”has become a great big whopping Writing Advice Cliche.

Instead of parroting Faulkner (none of whose novels I’ve ever managed to finish, but that’s another essay) why not come up with your own way of communicating this important message?

Preferably, one that does not involve murder.

Writing Coach and editor-for-hire Roz Warren, who writes for everyone from the Funny Times to the New York Times, can help you improve and publish your work. Drop her a line at [email protected]. (That’s Ros with an “s,” not a “z.”)