Kill Your Darlings For Beginners

“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

I read this quote years ago and it stuck with me, mostly because it seemed odd. It seemed wrong. Until I started editing my first book and realized what King meant.

To a writer, darlings are those words, phrases, paragraphs, chapters and even characters that we get attached to. So attached at times, that we don’t realize they harm the overall story.

While I was revising Raincheck, my first book, I was forced to kill several of my darlings in order to make the story work. I cut my favorite chapter – I still love that chapter – but in the context of the story, it wasn’t necessary and it hurt the flow. I also substantially changed one of my main characters, turning him from Mr. Sweet-Guy-Next-Door into a self-centered jerk of sorts. Did it hurt? Oh, yeah! I seriously loved that character. I would have married that character as I first wrote him. But he didn’t help move the story in the direction that I needed him to, so Mr. Nice-Guy had to go.

Recently, I’ve been whining about editing my current book, Kismet. If you follow any of my social media accounts, you’ll know just how true this is – and thank you for listening. I actually finished Kismet and sent it to my agent last summer – that’s right, last summer. She promptly sent it back to me, complete with a critique.

The critique was fair and accurate, and made me feel tired. I know that sounds strange, but it pointed out three major, make-my-brain-throb, make-my-heart-clench, issues. Issues that would require a lot of work and re-writing to remedy.

First, I took an easy and unbelievable route to establish conflict. In a class that I took (and thoroughly enjoyed), best-selling author Kristan Higgins said, you should never use your first three ideas for creating or, more importantly, resolving conflict. Why? Because, that’s what your audience will expect, but it’s not what they’ll remember. It’s not what will grab them and make them turn those pages. Apparently, I’d forgotten that golden rule while writing Kismet. Believe me, it won’t happen again.

Second, I didn’t make one of my secondary characters relevant. She was just a prop, holding up bits of my storyline. I needed to give her life. I needed to give her a narrative of her own, without overshadowing my main storyline.

Third, I needed to give my two main characters distinct voices. For me, this was the most difficult critique to address. Both characters grew up in the same city and had similar upbringings, so it made sense – to me – that they spoke in a similar manner. This tactic, however, didn’t allow the reader to develop a sense of who they were individually.

Fixing these deficits in my story ultimately meant scratching two thirds of my book. Yup, I ended up killing a lot of my darlings off in tortuous ways. There were days when I agonized over what to take out and what to keep. And there were days when I seriously considered trashing the entire book. Those were the particularly bad days.

But I kept at it. I rewrote and I rewrote and I rewrote until my little, writer’s brain begged me to stop. It seemed to take forever to evolve and round my story, but now that I’ve reached the end – I feel good. I’m pleased with my storyline and my characters, and hope that readers will be too.

Now, I’m looking forward to beginning my next book, because that’s what writer’s do. We agonize, we struggle, we live through each of our characters and sometimes – okay, a lot of the time – we have to kill our darlings in order to create something that grips our readers and never lets them go.

Like Stephen King says, ‘kill your darlings, kill your darlings’ – you won’t be sorry.

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Marlo is a Canadian girl, fond of the rolling prairies and majestic mountains close to her city home. And, of course, hockey, maple syrup and saying ‘eh.’ Working in healthcare for over a decade, Marlo believes that laughter is the best medicine and tries to put it to good use in her writing and at work.

Find out more about her on her website https://marlolanz.com/

Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/marlo_lanz
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Category: How To and Tips, On Writing