Being a Better Writer’s Summer of Cliche Writing Advice: Kill Your Darlings · 4:03pm Aug 5th, 2019
Hello readers! We’re back with the fourth installment of Being a Better Writer‘s Summer of Cliche Writing Advice! Which, as this is installment number four, has some of you nodding and ready to move on, but if you’re checking in here for the first time, you might be asking “Wait, what?”
Never fear, here’s your explanation. Being a Better Writer is tackling all those oft-heard, cliche bits of writing advice this summer! That’s right, all those quick little tidbits new (or even established) writers hear from folks on Facebook, or Tumblr, or forums, or in person at a dinner. If you’re a writer, you’ve probably heard most of them. You sit down at a dinner you’ve been invited to, someone asks what you do, you say “Well, I’m an author—” and the next thing you know you’re being “advised” by people with sayings like “Well remember, there’s nothing new under the sun!”
Yeah, that kind of thing. Those easily remembered and repeated sayings that are tossed around like candy around authors. They’re everywhere. But … are they really that useful?
That’s the question the Summer of Cliche Writing Advice is here to answer! This summer, Being a Better Writer is tackling these common sayings one by one, breaking them down, examining what they say and what they mean … And whether or not that meaning is ultimately good, bad, or just neutral for writers.
Are you ready? Good. Because this week, we’ve got a classic spot of writing advice to break down. This week, we look at …
Kill your darlings.
"There is nothing new under the Sun" is among my favorite Bible not-quite-quotes, though I suspect I take a different meaning than those cudgel-clobberers mentioned in the old BaBW post (sorry I missed it the first time around, by the way). The way I see it is more along these lines: "Make whatever you want, and give no thought to how supposedly original it is or isn't. Nothing ever was wholely original in the first place, so that clearly isn't a requirement for making a great work. Tropes are tools, so use them! Slay the dragon. Fall in love. Vanquish an ancient evil, if you like. Make the perfect cupcake. I've read a story like it before, and I'll read a thousand more, because I like it. So what if there is nothing new under the Sun today? There never was in the first place, but there's always been a story worth hearing.
Part II: The actual post at-hand.
Y'know, I was actually thinking of the lost Colony draft during this post.
Figuring out when you need to stop throwing good figurative money after bad is frequently a tough problem. Taking a look at things, even your sacred cows, and checking to see if they're worth seeing through at this point, is an important skill. And sometimes you just need to cut something you love the idea of loose, because you can't figure out how to execute on it. But as long as you end up with a story you're happy with, it was probably worth the pain.