"Kill Your Darlings"
Out of context this seems an odd statement but from an editorial perspective it’s straight to the point. Twice now I’ve seen this advice imparted while involved in the Ink & Insights contest. The first was in the feedback I received from my debut entry in 2016. This year I ran across that same sentiment in the contest blog and I paused for a moment to reflect upon its meaning.
Content editing can be a difficult and sometimes painful process. Writers must make some tough calls when it comes to polishing a manuscript. We pour so much time and energy into our work, nurturing our projects like a baby; watching them grow. And like any self-respecting parent, we can become very defensive when we’re told there’s something not quite right about our children! However, when faced with the dilemma of some aspect of our work not quite jiving with our readers, it’s important to remain objective.
When I was first given these words of wisdom, I honestly didn’t know what to think. Gut reaction was screaming, “What do you mean this doesn’t work? I love this part! How can you say that???” Kill my darlings? I wrestled with that statement for days. My “darlings” were crucial characters to my overall plot. Removing them would literally obliterate half of my story! It was out of the question and I couldn’t figure how anyone could justify such a suggestion.
Still, it nagged at me. I couldn’t chalk it up so blithely as to say, “This guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” The advice was not given out of cruelty or maliciousness. Dismissing the comment out of hand would defeat the whole purpose of entering the contest—constructive criticism. Something obviously made him react that way. It was up to me to figure out what it was and how I could fix it.
In examining this problem, one vital element I hadn’t considered occurred to me: While I was looking at my entire story, my judges had to make their assessments based off of an excerpt. They had no idea what was going to happen afterwards! This realization immediately gave me a whole different perspective on the matter. I re-read only that portion of my manuscript the judges had seen more critically and “forgot” everything they would have no way of knowing.
From this angle I was able to see things much more clearly. I still didn’t agree that “killing my darlings” was the right approach but I was able to understand what prompted him to say that. The problem wasn’t really with the characters themselves. It was more a POV issue. So many characters were introduced so fast in just a few short pages that it bred confusion as to who my protagonist was and who was meant to be a supporting character. Once I identified the underlying problem, I was able to start working on the solution.
I’m pleased to report that simply rearranging the chapters to combine shorter sections about my main character before segueing into side plot corrected the issue. When I entered the revised version into the next contest, there was no mention of “throwaway” characters and I was even praised for how well I juggled so many because they were introduced in a more effective and timely manner than they were in the previous submission.
Take editorial advice with a grain of salt but never take it lightly. “Kill your darlings” may sound unnecessarily harsh on the surface but those three little words had an enormous impact on my work. The benefits far outweigh the initial injury to your ego!
