Loving a line so much you can't bear to kill it

miles · Oct 13, 2007

We all know the quote "Kill your darlings," but sometimes it's very difficult.

I know I've often struggled with a sentence or paragraph for hours or even days. Then, after I finally get it right, finally am excited about it, I later find it doesn't fit in the plot and must be axed.

I've often went as far as to try changing the plot a bit just to keep a line or paragraph that really needs to go. It's one thing to kill it when it took seconds to write, it's quite another when it took hours.

So, has anyone else actually tried revising a plot just to keep a line that you worked especially hard on? One thing I've learned is that it's hardly ever a good idea, but clicking "backspace" can be very painful sometimes.

Azraelsbane · Oct 13, 2007

I've tried, but you're right, it's usually not the best idea. No point in having a killer line if the scene is flat. On the other hand, during my final edit of the novel I'm querying, I was able to fit a killer line into one of the new scenes I implemented. I didn't plan it, but I got to a point in the scene and went, "Omg, FINALLY I can use this line! Amazing." And so it was, or so I hope.

joetrain · Oct 13, 2007

miles said:
So, has anyone else actually tried revising a plot just to keep a line that you worked especially hard on? One thing I've learned is that it's hardly ever a good idea, but clicking "backspace" can be very painful sometimes.

kill it. soon it hurts in a good way, like yoga or popping zits.

JoNightshade · Oct 13, 2007

You can do what I did. My current project evolved from a series of totally different, shorter stories. When I decided to make it into a novel I picked out all my favoritest parts and constructed a story around that.

(Okay seriously, kill your darlings. Save it somewhere else if you want, but do what's best for the story.)

wayndom · Oct 13, 2007

miles said:
I've often went as far as to try changing the plot a bit just to keep a line or paragraph that really needs to go. It's one thing to kill it when it took seconds to write, it's quite another when it took hours.

That way lies madness. You must NEVER change a story to make a nice sentence fit in, no matter how friggin' good the sentence is. To do so is to turn writing on its head. The words exist in service to the story, never the other way around.

If the sentence is really spectacular, put it in a scrapbook of Your Greatest Sentences, and maybe someday you can get that published.

And by the way, I can relate to your feelings. Once, when I was a reporter, I was phone-interviewing a Coast Guard spokesperson about a rescue off San Francisco. He said the search had gone on all day, and was just about to give up, since the sun was going down, when they spotted a survivor. When they pulled him out of the frigid water, he was about a half-hour away from dying of hypothermia.

I said, "Wow! He's lucky to be alive."

The Coast Guard guy said, "Well, we're all lucky to be alive..."

Try as I might, I've never managed to come up with a way to incorporate that statement in anything, fiction or non. And lord, did I try...

lfraser · Oct 13, 2007

I find if I let those darlings sit for long enough they eventually reveal themselves to be the overwritten bits.

joetrain · Oct 13, 2007

lfraser said:
I find if I let those darlings sit for long enough they eventually reveal themselves to be the overwritten bits.

very true.

but sometimes they can sit for years.

kill them quickly and without remorse.

or put them in a scrapbook.

ORION · Oct 14, 2007

hey I put them in another novel...

DVGuru · Oct 14, 2007

I keep a separate file open just for text I need to cut. This way I'm not really killing it--more like moving it.

scarletpeaches · Oct 14, 2007

I keep a word document called my "Darlings' Graveyard".

Andre_Laurent · Oct 14, 2007

I've never tried to change the plot, but I've had some sentences that were painful to cut....and I let them stay much longer than I should have.

aadams73 · Oct 14, 2007

DVGuru said:
I keep a separate file open just for text I need to cut. This way I'm not really killing it--more like moving it.

Yup, this is what I do too.

Susan Gable · Oct 14, 2007

DVGuru said:
I keep a separate file open just for text I need to cut. This way I'm not really killing it--more like moving it.

LOL. Me, too.

Oh, the mind games we play, huh?

But hey, at least this way, it's not GONE. We can go admire it in the Chopped File.

Susan G.

maestrowork · Oct 14, 2007

I was always able to use the line somewhere else (with minor tweaks, sometimes). But if the line doesn't fit, take it out. I like having a file for them, so you can plug them back in somewhere else.

Just Me 2021 · Oct 14, 2007

I have a scene like that from my first novel that my agent asked me to cut (it revealed too much about the character too early on, and it just doesn't fit anywhere else in the text), so I did. I LOVE that scene! It killed me to axe it. I'm hoping to write another book where I can use that scene. But if I never get to, it's saved in a special file marked "really good Walter scene."

KAP · Oct 14, 2007

I let them go. But then I'm the kind of writer who lets scenes and chapters and characters and plot lines I love go if they don't fit in later on. Writing them made me a better writer. Even if no one will read them, they contributed to that novel and to future ones. Makes them sound noble, doesn't it?

One interesting (probably only to me) thing I do, though, is to keep a line (or specific visual image) I like in my head as I write, waiting for the chance to use it. It may be mid-novel or later before it makes its way onto the page, but it's been a bit like a guiding star until then, and it's a rush to write the words that have been hanging in my mind for so long.

Even those aren't sacred. I recently eliminated a major guiding star of a line from a novel. In edits, it seemed over-the-top. But it served me well and remains a noble memory.

kap

Red-Green · Oct 14, 2007

Here's a thought to soothe you as you smother that darling--when you're a wildly famous author, you can reissue the novel in its "original" state, and stick that baby back in.

J. R. Tomlin · Oct 14, 2007

I've had sentences that were a little painful to cut but I never saved them or rewrote to keep them in.

Now scenes--that is different. There have been a few I seriously whimpered to have to cut. And a couple of those I have saved in my "snippet" folder thinking maybe someday.

takkunelwood · Oct 14, 2007

I learned that I must kill it if I'm away from the piece, but still thinking "I like this, but it's bugging me. Will it work?" If it's bugging me that bad, chances are it's a bad line for the piece.

joetrain · Oct 14, 2007

takkunelwood said:
I learned that I must kill it if I'm away from the piece, but still thinking "I like this, but it's bugging me. Will it work?" If it's bugging me that bad, chances are it's a bad line for the piece.

yes yes.

and here's a sick cycle i find: if i love a line/scene so much that i do not question it and would defend it with my life, it's usually that line/scene that must die.

J. R. Tomlin · Oct 14, 2007

joetrain said:
yes yes.

and here's a sick cycle i find: if i love a line/scene so much that i do not question it and would defend it with my life, it's usually that line/scene that must die.

Sad, but true.

Nymtoc · Oct 14, 2007

Be ruthless.

:e2chain:

Doodlebug · Oct 14, 2007

Susan Gable said:
LOL. Me, too.

Oh, the mind games we play, huh?

But hey, at least this way, it's not GONE. We can go admire it in the Chopped File.

Susan G.

Count me as another one of those. My file is 'outtakes' (like I'm directing a movie or something). What makes erasing those jewels of prose from my work possible is my mantra: "Anything to make the story better".

Esopha · Oct 14, 2007

DVGuru said:
I keep a separate file open just for text I need to cut. This way I'm not really killing it--more like moving it.

I do this. But then I have to make sure to sit my characters down and have a discussion about why they can't have that uber-cool line, otherwise they revolt.

Especially Dictionary. Ugh, he's annoying about that.

ishtar'sgate · Oct 14, 2007

miles said:
We all know the quote "Kill your darlings," but sometimes it's very difficult.

I know I've often struggled with a sentence or paragraph for hours or even days. Then, after I finally get it right, finally am excited about it, I later find it doesn't fit in the plot and must be axed.

I've often went as far as to try changing the plot a bit just to keep a line or paragraph that really needs to go. It's one thing to kill it when it took seconds to write, it's quite another when it took hours.

So, has anyone else actually tried revising a plot just to keep a line that you worked especially hard on? One thing I've learned is that it's hardly ever a good idea, but clicking "backspace" can be very painful sometimes.

Close your eyes and hit the delete button! Yes, I've done that but it's never a good idea so I get rid of my 'pet'. I put it aside in case it might fit elsewhere but usually it's gone for good. Openings are my biggest problem. I will agonize over them for a long time. In my current WIP I've discarded probably half a dozen opening paragraphs and I'm still not satisfied. I like the way they read but they just don't have IT. Eventually I'll hit on the right opening but in the meantime I've chucked out some good lines.
Linnea

Loving a line so much you can't bear to kill it

agent at The Knight Agency

Agony is defeat

blank

has finally arrived

Bored and Frantic

blank

Sailed away years ago

Plays too many video games

A Work in Progress

Dreamer of dreams, teller of tales

Fear the Death Ray

practical experience, FTW

Hangin' with the gargies

KoalaKoalaKoala!

blank

Benefactor Member

bam pow zap.

living in the past