Kill your darlings: why it works

I know, I know. Believe me, I understand how painful it can be to pour your heart and soul into a book, to send it out into the world all giddy with excitement and pride, only to be told that it’s not ready yet – and that to get it ready, you need to cut that character you adore or delete that scene you’ve been dreaming about since you were seventeen.

No! I hear you cry! I imagine you sitting at your desk, reading their email, shaking your head as your breathing speeds up. I imagine your eyes beginning to water at the thought of redoing all that work, knowing how that change will have wide-ranging impacts on your manuscript that may lead to months or replanning, rewriting and re-editing.

Oh wait! That was me doing the crying, wasn’t it? Only I wasn’t at my desk reading an email. I was in my car after a meeting with my Masters by Research supervisors, absolutely devastated that the protagonist I’d adored so much needed a complete overhaul. He couldn’t be funny and sarcastic (hello, stereotypical farm-boy-to-king vibe). They wanted him grittier, darker, meaner, an antihero. Someone who does horrible things and doesn’t care. Someone who refuses to be a pawn in the plot.

I didn’t want that. I wanted a light-hearted adventure like the epic fantasy series from the 1980s that I was raised on. I wanted my character to be who I’d always imagined him to be, so I vowed to fight against my supervisors’ advice, told myself that it’s my work and my decision, because honestly it is. It’s always the author’s work and so their decision.

But what if? I asked myself. What if I gave it a go? It caused me physical pain to start a new document and rewrite my work with a darker antihero as the protagonist, but dear me, wasn’t it a fun ride, because my supervisors were right. I didn’t like that they were, and it literally felt like I was killing my darling, but at the end of it all, I had a more logical, coherent and entertaining character. I soon realised just how motivations should work, how human psychology is impacted by every part of us, how the characters I’d been writing throughout my undergraduate degree were stereotypes that I had become wedded to. They had hindered my growth as a writer, but this guy? This insane, mean, magic-wielding git that I’d created? His backstory now formed his personality instead of just being a few lines I threw in here and there. His personality then drove his actions, his thoughts, his interactions with other characters. He became more alive because I gave him the space to live, and though it meant changing every plot point, every line of dialogue, every relationship, it elevated my manuscript beyond my wildest dreams.

None of that would have happened if I hadn’t been pushed out of my comfort zone, if I hadn’t realised that if someone is telling me something needs to change then they’re doing so for a reason.

Nobody wants to hear that they need to kill their darlings, and an editor or an agent don’t enjoy giving that news to a writer (believe me, it’s the part of the job I still struggle with!). We know how much you care about your work, how much it means to you, and how much courage it takes to send it out to be read by anyone, let alone a publishing professional. The truth is, however, that if you want your book to be published, then it’s important to see it as a product and not just the physical manifestation of your passion for the story. Editors and agents will be looking at a manuscript’s marketability, its readability, and will be advising on how to improve it so that it has its best shot at being bought, at being read, at building your brand as an author so that your readers will want to buy your next book.

Then the next.

Then the one after that.

Killing your darlings is perhaps the hardest pill for any writer (whether starting out or long-time established) to swallow. It doesn’t taste nice, it may unsettle your insides for a while, but when it’s all done and dusted, you’re stronger for it. Yes, the final decision rests with the author, and the suggestions an editor or agent provide are just that: suggestions. That said, they’ve worked with countless other manuscripts and are intimately aware of what makes the market tick, not to mention their years of training, qualifications and experience with your genre and the expectations of its readers.

If you truly believe your character needs to be a certain way, or a scene needs to unfold just so, then that’s 100% your right as the author to keep it the way you want – but do so once you’ve assessed all options, once you’ve asked yourself why they’ve proposed something else, once you’ve tested it for yourself and have come to the conclusion that the way you imagined it is what’s best for your novel.

Even just the process of analysing how to kill your darlings can strengthen you as a writer of the craft, as an author in the industry, and as a networking professional. We are, after all, always learning.

So, if you have feedback from somebody that makes you want to hurl your laptop out the window, just stop for a moment. Take a breath. Step away from the keyboard for as long as you need. Cuddle your dog. Have your tenth cup of tea. Then, when you’re ready, ask yourself one question:

What if?

Heather x