Kill Your Darlings—a creepy phrase that is oft repeated in the literary world. Initially, I thought it was advice regarding which characters a writer should knock off in a mystery book. Later, I discovered that it wasn’t advice regarding whom to eliminate, but rather what to eliminate. Let your creativity fly freely while penning your first draft, but cut deeply during the editing process. Eliminate anything that bogs down the pacing and does not move the storyline forward: flowery prose, clever metaphors, unnecessary details, redundant scenes or characters, etc. You may be proud of your witty turn of phrase and adore a scene, but sacrifices must be made for the good of the story. Murdering your loved ones may be the best course of action. In his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King said: “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”
“Darlings” can be unnecessary characters, pointless purple prose, extraneous subplots, excessive backstory, or info dumps. Prioritize the whole—what is best for the overall book is more important than a beloved element. Avoid redundancy and superfluous plotlines. Combine secondary characters. Delete passages that don’t add to the momentum or aren’t essential to the narrative. Don’t discard them, repurpose them. Save the cut passages and scenes in a file, and weave them into a subsequent project.
There are a lot of good articles about the subject. Check out “Kill Your Darlings: A Guide to Ruthless Editing” by Savannah Cordova https://reedsy.com/blog/kill-your-darlings/ and https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-does-it-mean-to-kill-your-darlings#6L1wCDIv9VuSaBiHiNWYFa
It can be hard to give your literary baby a haircut, but it can improve their overall appearance and appeal. So, grab a sharp pair of scissors and start snipping!
