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.