It's sooooo hard. One thing I do, if I really care about something, is the two-reader rule. If a have someone read my piece and they tell me to cut something I truly love, admit that they could be right (or could be wrong!) and have one other person read the same thing. If 2 people say the darling's gotta go....adios!
I follow a strategy similar to Karla's. I always have one, if not several, store houses for things I like but which can't belong. I periodically review those when I'm stuck on a certain theme. This way I feel nothing ever dies, it just lives somewhere else, for a possible after life.
I really enjoyed this article. I kind of love the process of killing darlings. I feel like writing is like spring cleaning. The first draft is like pulling everything out of the closet and laying it out on the floor. There’s way too much in there and most if it I don’t want or need. The art is in carefully selecting what goes back in and how it’s placed. I keep a “scraps” document for every project I work on. Sometimes I go back to things in there, usually I don’t.
Yes, Lauren! This is how I handle writing/cutting almost exactly. My first draft I call a "blob." It's messy and includes everything. Then, when I "deblob," I put everything I cut in an "extra" doc, but I honestly rarely ever look back. Just knowing I can though if I need to is enough.
I tend just to rip the band-aid off. I don't even save things in a file (I have never thought of that, but I probably should.) I continually ask myself: Is this relevant? Is it necessary? Is this self-serving? If it is any (or all) of those things, then it has to go.
I was writing an article for a magazine about excited delirium and spent a ton of page space waxing lyrical about my own mental illness. Not necessary! Not relevant! Self-serving! Away with you! The article was eventually reduced from 6,000 words to 4,000 words during my own editing process. (Not all of that was my own commentary.)
I also use Speechify to read my writing back to me. In some ways, it's even better than hearing it in my own voice. Sweet Gwenyth Paltrow reads my work to me, and it becomes very clear very quickly what isn't working.
Ancient advice like this exists primarily as pretext. The chief deciding factors in determining what gets through is based on concept, built especially around the two wicked stepsisters of celebrity and sex. Cliches like "kill your darlings" (along with the similarly wizened excuses about the industry being "subjective") are used to obscure this shameful but obvious fact.
This is why advice on craft is useless. If you really wanted to help anyone, you'd be instructing them on how to add more throbbing cocks into their work so as to hook the attention of some sociopathically numb editor.
It's sooooo hard. One thing I do, if I really care about something, is the two-reader rule. If a have someone read my piece and they tell me to cut something I truly love, admit that they could be right (or could be wrong!) and have one other person read the same thing. If 2 people say the darling's gotta go....adios!
I follow a strategy similar to Karla's. I always have one, if not several, store houses for things I like but which can't belong. I periodically review those when I'm stuck on a certain theme. This way I feel nothing ever dies, it just lives somewhere else, for a possible after life.
That's such a nice way to think about it!
I really enjoyed this article. I kind of love the process of killing darlings. I feel like writing is like spring cleaning. The first draft is like pulling everything out of the closet and laying it out on the floor. There’s way too much in there and most if it I don’t want or need. The art is in carefully selecting what goes back in and how it’s placed. I keep a “scraps” document for every project I work on. Sometimes I go back to things in there, usually I don’t.
Yes, Lauren! This is how I handle writing/cutting almost exactly. My first draft I call a "blob." It's messy and includes everything. Then, when I "deblob," I put everything I cut in an "extra" doc, but I honestly rarely ever look back. Just knowing I can though if I need to is enough.
I tend just to rip the band-aid off. I don't even save things in a file (I have never thought of that, but I probably should.) I continually ask myself: Is this relevant? Is it necessary? Is this self-serving? If it is any (or all) of those things, then it has to go.
I was writing an article for a magazine about excited delirium and spent a ton of page space waxing lyrical about my own mental illness. Not necessary! Not relevant! Self-serving! Away with you! The article was eventually reduced from 6,000 words to 4,000 words during my own editing process. (Not all of that was my own commentary.)
I also use Speechify to read my writing back to me. In some ways, it's even better than hearing it in my own voice. Sweet Gwenyth Paltrow reads my work to me, and it becomes very clear very quickly what isn't working.
Love the Speechify idea! I totally want to try that.
Thanks again for inviting me to contribute! Honored to be included such powerhouse writers. 💌
So great to have you, Greg! Obsessed with the idea of Empty Trash!
Ancient advice like this exists primarily as pretext. The chief deciding factors in determining what gets through is based on concept, built especially around the two wicked stepsisters of celebrity and sex. Cliches like "kill your darlings" (along with the similarly wizened excuses about the industry being "subjective") are used to obscure this shameful but obvious fact.
This is why advice on craft is useless. If you really wanted to help anyone, you'd be instructing them on how to add more throbbing cocks into their work so as to hook the attention of some sociopathically numb editor.