No, I won’t “kill my darlings.”

Photo by Kyle Johnson on Unsplash

The advice to “kill your darlings” is often given to novice writers, especially those who are eager to emulate the style of an author they like. The idea is that you should be willing to cut any sentences or passages which seem precious because they aren’t really necessary for the story.

However, I believe this advice is misguided and even counterproductive.

First of all, it’s not easy to identify your darlings. You may think you’re killing passages that are unimportant or expendable because they aren’t very good, but in reality they may be important for other reasons (for example, foreshadowing) which you don’t understand yet. Forcing yourself to kill these passages may actually harm your story.

Second, this advice can lead to a lot of self-doubt and insecurity. If you’re always questioning whether every sentence is necessary, you’re going to have a hard time writing anything at all.

Finally, “killing your darlings” can be demoralizing. It’s easy to get attached to your writing, and it’s discouraging to have to delete your work or revise it until it’s barely recognizable.

So what should you do instead?

Simply put, you should write the story you want to write. Don’t worry about whether every sentence is necessary or perfect. Just focus on telling the story in a…