• Café Life is the Colony's main hangout, watering hole and meeting point.

    This is a place where you'll meet and make writing friends, and indulge in stratospherically-elevated wit or barometrically low humour.

    Some Colonists pop in religiously every day before or after work. Others we see here less regularly, but all are equally welcome. Two important grounds rules…

    • Don't give offence
    • Don't take offence

    We now allow political discussion, but strongly suggest it takes place in the Steam Room, which is a private sub-forum within Café Life. It’s only accessible to Full Members.

    You can dismiss this notice by clicking the "x" box

Craft Chat How to kill your darlings - some useful advice from a group of professionals

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peggy Lou
  • Start date Start date
Invest in You. Get Full Membership now.
Status
Not open for further replies.
This is a skill I learned long ago as a software developer. It's not uncommon to get attached to a piece of software you have written. Sometimes it gets ditched or de-commissioned and I have seen many a grown adult break down in tears knowing their program will never get anywhere near a register again.

I am lucky in that the fiction I write is mostly middle grade and tends to end with happy endings and everyone getting along just swimmingly.
 
When I kill a darling, I stick it in a 'dump file.' I might find another, better use for it, and if I don't, it's not so melancholy as deleting it outright.
 
Invest in You. Get Full Membership now.
Thanks for posting this Peggy. It really is the hardest part, I have found in my own case, to delete my darlings. But it is absolutely essential and the article is a good reminder for me. :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Further Articles from the Author Platform

Latest Articles By Litopians

  • Stakes
    What are Stakes? Stakes refer to what characters stand to lose or gain as they pursue their goals. T ...
  • Until I find You
    As one wise Litopian recently said to me, ‘Titles SUCK!!’ When I wrote songs, I never had a prob ...
  • She Loved Me Not
    . Last night I dreamed of Samantha Who tore at my throat like a panther Then she started to chew My ...
  • Both Sides of the Postcard
    The sand is white and soft. The palms sway gently. The turquoise water glitters. The happy traveler ...
  • What’s in a game?
    6When my son was a toddler, he threw the mother of all tantrums at my childless friends’ house. I ...
  • The Shadow Durian
    As a lifelong foreigner, I’ve learnt that being open to new things smooths the path considerably. ...
  • Goodbye Eeyore, Hello Tigger
    Granny was churchy. She grew up in an era that saw living by the Bible as an important British chara ...
Back
Top