Killing Your Darlings

     So I'd heard the phrase "Don't be afraid to kill your darlings." before, but never fully understood what it meant, especially in regards to writing.  I always took it a bit too literally, as in: actually killing your characters, or killing the project, or something of that nature.  I was, of course, like, "I'm not doing that."

    As I've been revising my current draft however, I realized, at least in part, what it means.  As I mentioned ages ago, I came up with the first two or three books of my series during my sophmore year of high school, which, if we were rounding, would be two decades ago.  I wrote massive sections of my manuscript while I was still in high school, and while I've reworked wording and cut or added things throughout the years, I hadn't actually taken the step back to see if the structure of those sections actually function adequately in the broader scope of the story.  I was so pleased with what I'd written that I never really looked at if it served a dynamic purpose in the plot.  It fit linearly and that was enough for me at the time. 

    I don't look at those sections as inherently bad now, but I know that they could be better.  They could show more, instead of just saying more.  To me, this is killing your darlings: it's taking the knife to writing that for years I was far too precious about.  It's like adding pockets to a skirt you love, which I also recently did and seriously regret not doing sooner!  It makes it better, more functional, and something that you're even more likely to reach for in the future.  So in conclusion, get over yourself, admit you can do better, and kill your darlings.

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