Apologies to Mr. Quiller-Couch

One of my favorite quotes about writing comes from Arthur Quiller-Couch. Somebetter-known names have made variations of the quotemore popular, but the original is still my favorite:

Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obeyit—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press.Murder your darlings.

If I was going to throw one quote at a new writer, this would be it. It’s the best way I know to illustrate that surprisingly difficul...