Kill Your Darlings – Writing

This is a continuation of my series “9 Ways to Lessen Your Word Count.” This post covers 3 points on that list!

When we hear the writing advice “kill your darlings,” many writers think it means something more literal, like being brave enough to kill a main or beloved character through storytelling. In reality, it means something (mostly) completely different!

The points covered here to help decrease word count by “killing your darlings” are:

1. Cut a scene/subplot/chapter
2. Combine/cut characters
3. Delete Unnecessary Exposition

Notice how each of these do involve “killing” something, but nothing that your readers should see in the finished product!

Also! Nothing is ever truly lost. Skip to the end of this post to see why!

Now, without further adieu *cough* I mean, ado…

1) Cut that scene / chapter

This one should be pretty self-explanatory, but it is a great way to cut down word count. When you go through your WIP, check to see what would happen if you cut a scene or skip a chapter. Would it change the story? Maybe it is doing redundant work that a different scene also accomplishes.

Consider: are you sure you need that scene where they’re just making friendship bracelets? Do they really need to have that extra fight scene, or are you just writing fluff/fanfiction for your own story?

It’s totally okay to write these scenes, but make sure that every scene in the novel proper is doing important work that affects the character development or plot. Even if your word count doesn’t need to go down, scenes like this can make a reader bored or annoyed. Take it out of the novel.

2) What about Subplots?

Maybe you have a blooming romance happening on the side of world domination, and then someone else is having an existential crisis about having children that they learn to love again—but oh! Also also someone is discovering their love for swimming.

Subplots are fun and can make a story more interesting. But if your story is too long or feels unfocused, this may be your culprit! Are you spending too much time on a subplot? Is it really important to watch Sally become an expert swimmer when the main plot is about Chris accomplishing world domination (or vice versa?!)?

Maybe Sally’s expert swimming is important at the end of the novel because Chris needs someone to swim to save him from drowning. That may be a subplot you should keep. Or maybe you can change that ending and simply have her already be a good swimmer or instead have her save him from a fire. Or maybe you have some other subplot hiding in your novel that isn’t really connected to anything else.

It can be hard to take a subplot out, but that’s why it’s called “kill your darlings!”

3) Combine / Cut Characters

My story has soooo many characters. After four drafts, I finally cut one of them and the scene that went with her. In that scene I not only introduced a character that had unclear magic that didn’t connect to any magic system and was sort of a stereotyped shaman, but also I introduced two other characters that also play parts in later novels.

I loved this character, Shanik, because she gave fun foreshadowing prophecies for each of my main characters and gave fun development for one of the main characters through his interactions with her. I needed this character because I needed her to perform a specific task for my main characters. But she was a character introduced at the end of the novel where there was already a lot going on and plenty other characters to keep track of.

Shanik didn’t play any roles after this novel. I didn’t need to foreshadow those points. The other two characters do play important roles throughout the series, and I actually had them doing the special task for Shanik anyway. So, I cut that whole scene and character and rewrote it to just introduce these other characters.

What? Rewrite the scene? Yeah, deleting characters doesn’t always delete scenes. 😦 However! Now I don’t waste time introducing and interacting with a third character. That helps the word count.

Though, perhaps your story has five main characters. Maybe two of them need more development or feel flat, but they still do important things for the book. See if you can combine them into one character or delete one of them and give the remaining important tasks to someone else / multiple other people. Too many characters can be hard to develop and follow. Sometimes it’s better to delete rather than complete a character.

Do as I say, not as I do. Don’t look at my books. XD

4) Delete Unnecessary Exposition

Exposition, backstories, worldbuilding, oh my!

Exposition is the bane of many writer’s existence. This is basically anything that gives background information and is often just narration. “Show vs Tell” can also be considered “Action vs Exposition.” It’s a lot of telling and not a lot of doing (Note: Flashbacks are often backstories, which are exposition, even if the flashback is full of action and dialogue.). You need a healthy balance of these to write a good story!

Exposition can be important. I mean, I do want to know who your main character is before their world changes forever (Inciting incident). It is important for me to have a basic idea of how magic might work or what cultural norms exist as we walk through your MC’s life. If we’re always watching Gerard run around and fighting bad guys, we’re gonna get tired and may not even care about the story anymore.

However, exposition needs to serve a purpose.

I don’t need to know about how Erik once had a pet bird that kept stealing his food, if the story is about Erik seducing Christine with his voice. I do need to know why Erik lives under the opera house and what skills he might have that could prove dangerous to the quest of saving Christine.

Likewise, I don’t need to know every detail about magic, what it can do, and how it works. If you’re writing a hard magic system, then yes, you may need to know it all. But your reader only needs to know what matters for the story and the characters.

Did you go on a tangent about a town that really likes fish? Was it funny? Does it change the story if you take the tangent out? No? That town shall no longer be mentioned in your book. Put it in a short story.

To Sum It Up

Keep the novel focused on its purpose. Cut the fluff, but keep important stuff. 😀 If you can take it out without changing the story, then take it out.

Keep in mind, any darling you cut can still be published as a separate short story or in a compilation book or even just a “deleted scenes” section on your website!