Daily Darling

The writing process, writing advice, and updates on your work in progress
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aspiring_x
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Daily Darling

Post by aspiring_x » February 17th, 2010, 11:38 pm

What darling did you murder today?

Admittedly, I went on a murder spree, but here's my golden child.

"To tell the truth, he had never even been to a small town. They just seemed like placeholders to him, something to break up the scenery when traveling to someplace worth seeing. "

Now, it's your turn.

Lunetta22
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Re: Daily Darling

Post by Lunetta22 » February 17th, 2010, 11:41 pm

Do you mean who we killed, or our favorite sentence of the day?

I love the sentence, by the way.

If you mean dead darlings, well...I just maimed a few dinosaurs.

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aspiring_x
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Re: Daily Darling

Post by aspiring_x » February 17th, 2010, 11:48 pm

Someone once said (and I can't remember who) that when editing, you need to look at what works for the purpose of the work. Sometimes those ideas, sentences, whatever that we love the most are actually tripping up the book. (Well, I'm sure she said it much better than that, but that's the gist of the thought.)
When that is the case, she said "You must murder your darlings" or something like that. The phrase has replayed within my mind so often as I've been editing. I forget that not everyone is hearing sulphorous voices whispering to chop out chunks of their writing...
anyway those are the darlings... the bits you love, but for the good of the (book) universe, you must murder.

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Re: Daily Darling

Post by Lunetta22 » February 18th, 2010, 12:20 am

Ooh I've been murdering all day! I murdered at least two pages so far. Wish I'd saved some of it to share. ;)

Ah ha, found one!

He still couldn’t figure out why he had lost the duel.

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Re: Daily Darling

Post by aspiring_x » February 18th, 2010, 3:53 pm

Good job Lunetta! Kill that darling!
Editing is painful. Here's my latest baby. It physically hurt to press the backspace button. (but hey my book is 17,000 words lighter than when it began!)

Bev had heard that money went further in small towns than in the city, but this was ridiculous! Why did anyone stay in the cities?

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Re: Daily Darling

Post by Yoshima » February 18th, 2010, 3:59 pm

aspiring_x wrote:Editing is painful. Here's my latest baby. It physically hurt to press the backspace button. (but hey my book is 17,000 words lighter than when it began!)

Bev had heard that money went further in small towns than in the city, but this was ridiculous! Why did anyone stay in the cities?
Aw, I love your darlings. It makes me sad to see them go. Wow, 17K is a ton of words! You're a beast with that backspace! I just cut one of my favorite darlings...I can still see the blood...

"This is ridiculous. If I seriously just performed magic, then any second now Damien will confess he has a pet dragon named Poopsie and that Hugo’s actually a leprechaun in desperate need of a rainbow."

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aspiring_x
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Re: Daily Darling

Post by aspiring_x » February 18th, 2010, 4:02 pm

oh that was good! but I know you wouldn't have chopped it without good reason.

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Jaime
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Re: Daily Darling

Post by Jaime » February 19th, 2010, 8:18 am

"Twenty six years ago I lost the love of my life.
To live without your soul mate is a pain worse than death. To know what you are missing out on: the love; the friendship; the adventure . . . living for an eternity means nothing if your life holds no meaning."

*Weeps*

But I like what I have now:

"Thirty years ago I lost the love of my life.
My life is now a web of days without nights, even though half of my time is filled with darkness. Others sleep. Those, unlike me, who age and fall ill; those who eat and drink. They sleep. The darkness gives them time to recover from the fatigue and hardships that the daylight presses upon them. For eight hours of their day, they are allowed to forget about their troubles and enter new worlds where anything can happen. Worlds where they can see and hold loved ones who are no longer with them. Worlds where they can go back in time and change their future."

Luckily I didn't cut it for word count purposes, because, well, that would have been an epic fail! I simply cut the epilogue and replaced it with the first chapter of the sequel, in order to make it a happier ending and therefore score me a paranormal romance genre, instead of an urban fantasy! Confused, anyone? =P And don't worry, it's not a vampire novel!!!

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aspiring_x
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Re: Daily Darling

Post by aspiring_x » February 19th, 2010, 10:42 am

jaime, you sound like a very wise lady :)

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Jaime
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Re: Daily Darling

Post by Jaime » February 20th, 2010, 12:16 am

aspiring_x wrote:jaime, you sound like a very wise lady :)
Awww, thanks, Vic! :)

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Lorelei Armstrong
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Re: Daily Darling

Post by Lorelei Armstrong » February 20th, 2010, 1:49 pm

I don't kill my darlings. I kill the bad parts, not the good. I think "kill your darlings" might just be one of the worst and most dangerous bits of advice ever given to writers, the way it has been interpreted. I believe it meant to kill what is good, or necessary, or logical only to the writer. It has been interpreted to mean removing anything that stands out against the background of the story as particularly good. So no, I won't do that.

The only thing I would have killed in the example given is the "just." And maybe the "To tell the truth," if it's the writer talking and if it doesn't fit the overall voice.

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Re: Daily Darling

Post by Lunetta22 » February 20th, 2010, 5:50 pm

I had to delete four thousand words today becasue I forgot the rules of my own world. ha!

Darling hard to part with:

“We’re clear.” The man whistled sharply. “Can I trust you not to scream this time?”

Anne nodded, and he removed his arm. “You shouldn’t tell someone not to scream, then tell them you have a gun.”

“You shouldn’t sit and cry in a clearing that is about to be invaded by dinosaurs.”

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Re: Daily Darling

Post by Nick » February 20th, 2010, 6:31 pm

Not at all a darling, but I've been putting off shoving the bullet into shite. Everything about it is fine, per se, but I feel like it delays the plot a bit too much, and I don't feel like introducing that particular character at that point in the narrative. So, yeah, there's a snippet of 189 or so words that's been sitting for over a week waiting to be taken to the executioner's block.

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aspiring_x
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Re: Daily Darling

Post by aspiring_x » February 20th, 2010, 7:28 pm

"I don't kill my darlings. I kill the bad parts, not the good. the thing about the darlings is that they are bad, because they hurt the story in some way. however, the author loves these particular bits for reasons not always completely pertaining to the book I think "kill your darlings" might just be one of the worst and most dangerous bits of advice ever given to writers, the way it has been interpreted. I believe it meant to kill what is good, or necessary, or logical only to the writer. It has been interpreted to mean removing anything that stands out against the background of the story as particularly good.is anyone really interpreting killing your darlings this way? So no, I won't do that."


I know for me, a big portion of my slaughters have been from the beginning. back story is the habitat for many darlings. all our settings, characters, plot lines should have backstory. I mean they have to come from somewhere, right? How much of that should actually be in the book, is a completely different story. look at tolkien and the simarillion. so much backstory... now imagine if he had put all of that in the lotr tilogy or the hobbit. it would have been painful to read.
sometimes, there is something interesting or funny or insightful that we write. but just because it may be good does not mean it is good for the particular story you're writing. maybe, i'm just not being clear here. but i think that 'killing your darlings' is not only a good thing, but a necessary thing. that is if you don't want your story to be a wandering self-indulgent mess, which mine would definately be, if i weren't slaughtering the little boogers.

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Re: Daily Darling

Post by Lunetta22 » February 20th, 2010, 7:33 pm

But self indulgent messes are so much fun... ;)

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