I mean unless you're writing an operator's manual for a forklift or something, *nothing* you're writing is actually "necessary"https://twitter.com/BlasianBytch/status/1328248183168901120?s=20 …
-
-
"Kill your darlings" is one of those pithy, vague sayings that's gotten a lot of traction because it sounds really badass and tough and mean, and there's always a ready market for getting advice that feels like abuse so it feels like you're really doing something
Show this thread -
But like all such pieces of advice if you really dissect it's just a tautology "Only keep the stuff that's actually good and get rid of the stuff that's bad"
Show this thread -
The key thing about "Kill your darlings" is it's advice they give to talented people and trust them to apply their talent to it There is nothing about that advice that makes a bad writer into a good writer
Show this thread -
There isn't a "Great Master" in history who, if you gave their MS to a rando student and told them to "kill the darlings", the student wouldn't turn into generic garbage
Show this thread -
Melville's Moby Dick was better than most people's books in its purest rough draft state, before anyone edited it at all, and if you gave it to some dipshit to edit so they pared it down to a 150-page story "He went to kill the whale, and the whale got him!" you'd ruin it
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
I write nothing but "necessary" things these days (technical writer) and it's I think it's better suited for me than a creative writer. A diversion in tech writing might obscure an important fact, whereas the "unnecessary" parts of a book are often my favourites.
-
Any Discworld story could be told without the little asides on things like The Muntab Question or spending a few pages inventing magic quantum mechanics but those parts are great and I love Pondrer Stibbons.
- Show replies
New conversation -
-
-
This is very true the parts of Lord of the Rings I remembered and adored as a kid would be considered over exposition and asides now.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.