Just killed my darling

Niiicola · Jan 11, 2012

In fact, this chapter was the darlingest of my darlings, and I just decimated it. Even though I know it was the right thing to do, I feel a bit like I've lost a kidney or something.

I'm going to save it in my dreaded "cuts" file and hopefully salvage pieces of it. I'd love to hear other people's stories on doing this. How did it work out for you? Did you ever go back?

EthanJones · Jan 11, 2012

Hi Niicola:

We get attached to our characters, they are our creation after all, so it's normal to feel sad when one of them is gone.

In my current editing process, I've trimmed almost 7,000 words of a 95,000 novel. No darlings killed, yet.

Thanks,

Ethan

Paul · Jan 11, 2012

leave it in a jar for a few months. it wont look so pretty then.

(all part of the process)

lizbeth dylan · Jan 11, 2012

I don't kill my darlings. I just put them into an induced coma in a separate word file. Just in case I need to harvest body parts later.

SRHowen · Jan 11, 2012

I'm killing a few right now.

Atarrin · Jan 11, 2012

lizbeth dylan said:
I don't kill my darlings. I just put them into an induced coma in a separate word file. Just in case I need to harvest body parts later.

I think this is a good way to go. Although I would not be surprised if you discover your affection for the cut passages has waned by the next time you look at it.

Taytortots · Jan 11, 2012

Oh, I hate killing darlings.
I can't offer any help with dealing with it, because I don't know how. I always get very sad.
I just put them in a folder, keep them and read them over.

Buffysquirrel · Jan 11, 2012

I had to kill one in the trunk novel. I loved, but it didn't do important things like moving the story along....

_Sian_ · Jan 11, 2012

If you see a problem, take the darling out and put it into another file. Keep going with your revisions, and then go back when you've finished. For one, you'll be able to see the darling with a more detached frame of mind. For another, because it's isolated, you can maybe try and see why you put it in the story in the first place. Once you've figured out why, you can figure out if that's a good enough reason to maybe re-include it if the story needs it.

That's what I do anyway. Of all the times I've killed a darling, only twice have they gone back in, and then in drastically different forms, and with greater purpose. It's all about intention.

cmi0616 · Jan 11, 2012

Killed my character a few months ago. Already a thread about it haha:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230917&highlight=stages+grief

GFanthome · Jan 11, 2012

lizbeth dylan said:
I don't kill my darlings. I just put them into an induced coma in a separate word file. Just in case I need to harvest body parts later.

LOL - I do the exact same thing!

Billycourty · Jan 11, 2012

I have sentence darlings that do read beautifully and I fall in love with them every time I read them.
But superfluous or out of pace or both. They are the hardest to kill for me.

Vemy Paw · Jan 11, 2012

I'm doing it right now, lol. I'm killing 60k words out of my 167k manuscript. I was sure I couldn't do it six months ago, when I just finished the ms. Now, I can see it more clearly which scenes need to be killed.

I suppose if you give it sometime, you'll eventually fall out of love with them :tongue

sad, but necessary.

gothicangel · Jan 12, 2012

So far, I've edited four out the 35 chapters my book has. Out of those four I have decimated two of the chapters.

But, I always find - no matter how hard it is to hit the delete button - it works out for the best. One chapter, I realised was just a lot of navel gazing, once I deleted and reworked it, it became a cracking little chapter.

J.S.F. · Jan 12, 2012

I've killed (characters) before and will again. Killed the mentor to my protagonist from my "myth" novel in the sequel, and I'm currently writing the third installation of my trilogy. I know I'll have to do away with the MC's true love which is a heartbreaker but that's how love goes....

Saint09 · Jan 12, 2012

Haha, is this thread talking about two different things? Sounds like some are killing their "darling" characters, and others are killing their "darling" chapters. Luckily I've never dealt with killing characters, as I usually plan which ones bite the dust and how from the get go. I have killed chapters though...and some were my favorites. I just save those scenes for my archive of "deleted scenes". Maybe I can recycle them in other works later.

Currently killing my 4k word chapter one, which I loved. But after I got a few chapters into the novel I found my first chapter's tone didn't really fit. It was a bit too brutal for the overall "fun" feel of the novel.

Becky Black · Jan 12, 2012

I still gnash my teeth over a line I had to take out of something I wrote at least two years ago now. I loved it; it was funny, it was witty. It was totally inapproriate for the character and the situation. Gah! Maybe one day it will find its way into the mouth of a character who can pull it off the way the first guy I wrote it for couldn't.

Becky Black · Jan 12, 2012

Saint09 said:
Haha, is this thread talking about two different things? Sounds like some are killing their "darling" characters, and others are killing their "darling" chapters. Luckily I've never dealt with killing characters, as I usually plan which ones bite the dust and how from the get go. I have killed chapters though...and some were my favorites. I just save those scenes for my archive of "deleted scenes". Maybe I can recycle them in other works later.

Well a darling can be anything, a one-liner, a chapter, a character, even a whole story. But however much we love them and however good they might be in themselves, sometimes they just gotta go. And the story always gets the final vote.

nighttimer · Jan 12, 2012

It's far kinder for me to kill my darlings thoughtfully and with love than send them out unprepared into the cold, cruel world to have them savagely murdered by complete strangers.

It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it.

bearilou · Jan 12, 2012

lizbeth dylan said:
I don't kill my darlings. I just put them into an induced coma in a separate word file. Just in case I need to harvest body parts later.

Looking at your lovely avatar and reading that sentence is going to send me back to bed to pull the covers over my head.

However, I agree. I have a bone yard file and everything not usable goes into it for cannibalization later.

Shika Senbei · Jan 12, 2012

Darlings? What are you talking about? They're words, dammit!

Saint09 · Jan 12, 2012

bearilou said:
Looking at your lovely avatar and reading that sentence is going to send me back to bed to pull the covers over my head.

However, I agree. I have a bone yard file and everything not usable goes into it for cannibalization later.

Hah, and every time I see your avatar I want to gurgle out a, "Murrrlllghghghghg" and run around chasing gnomes and dwarves.

Calla Lily · Jan 12, 2012

lizbeth dylan said:
I don't kill my darlings. I just put them into an induced coma in a separate word file. Just in case I need to harvest body parts later.

Best. Post. Today.

Grunkins · Jan 12, 2012

I have a number of scenes in my WiP (including my first two chapters) that I'm pretty fond of, but am also pretty sure they are going bye bye when the 1st revision comes around. It will be painful.

NeuroFizz · Jan 12, 2012

There are no darlings. Each scene has to earn its keep. That's because it's all about the story and it's all about the readers. It shouldn't ever be about the writer, and if we let a scene become a darling, it puts the emphasis on us rather than the story or the readers. Kill the sumbiches. Save them in a graveyard file if your conscience dictates, but do what's best for the story without a twinge of regret.

Just killed my darling

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