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 …
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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
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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
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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
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Most tautologies are only tautological from a certain perspective. Like "all bachelors are unmarried men" is either a tautology, or a definition depending on how you look at it.
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The bland, un-badass way to phrase "Kill your darlings" is "The book probably isn't as good as it could be on your first draft, and if you spent some time working on it you could probably make it better" That's all you really need to say
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nah, it is not a tautology nor does it just mean "get rid of what's bad and keep what's good" it means, "get rid of what is serving no clear purpose, but to which you are nevertheless emotionally attached". it is a term borrowed from film to encourage tough editing choices.
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Yeah, I know why people say it, I'm saying I dislike it and the whole macho attitude behind it
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Joss Whedon learned one of his cast could do ballet, wrote an entire episode around it, and then very reluctantly cut the scene of them doing ballet. It's the best example of "kill your darlings" being meaningful advice.
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I wish I could remember where I read it, but my absolute favorite bit of writing advice is, "Be sure the right words are next to each other." OH, I SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT
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There was an epic troll when Douglas Adams and Terry Jones released the full text of Starship Titanic for free with the book still in print Specifically, "every word of the book"
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