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StoryCraft 🛠️

How to Kill Your Darlings (Even When It’s Really Hard)

Four successful nonfiction writers share how they grapple with the necessary, often-painful task of cutting from their work.

Marisa Charpentier's avatar
Marisa Charpentier
Jun 20, 2025
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Collage by Yunuen Bonaparte/Narratively archive

Hi, there. Happy Juneteenth! We’re so happy to bring you our first StoryCraft piece on the new site. This is a subject close to our hearts, so we hope you enjoy and find some useful tips to take away. (We want to hear from you, too! Share in the comments at the end to tell us how you kill your darlings.)

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