I don't mean the proverbial "darlings" you're supposed to kill — the fine sentences you're proud of and thus hang onto even though though they should go. I'm talking about stuff that's genuinely good, just not good where it is.
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One of the hardest things to do when writing (and thus one of the differentiators of really good writing) is to cut stuff that's genuinely good, just not good in the thing you're writing.
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It's particularly hard to learn this lesson, because you never see the instances of it. You can see clear sentences and good rhythm and perfect word choices in the works of writers you admire, but you can't see the things they cut.
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Killing your darlings is a tough assignment.
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Murder 'em with avidity.
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True for many replacements of the word "writing"
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So many books have this problem - authors going on about things they know or think, that aren't connected to the central idea of the book
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Struggling with this right now! I know I'm supposed to "kill my darlings" but it's tough when said darlings were the original impetus for writing the piece to begin with. I try remind myself that it's a process and "I'm writing to figure out what I think" (not to sound smart)
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If it’s good, it’ll probably be useful at another time, for another essay. Any tips on how you file the good bits for reference later? (if you do, that is).
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@GinniRometty once said, “If I had more time, I would have written less”Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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Used to be worse. Now there's: Ctrl+x, https://twitter.com , Ctrl+v, Enter.
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