How to Kill Your Darlings: Advice on Editing

It’s quite the thing of beauty to love your own writing. Lately, I’ve felt this way. Looked at a completed draft and found myself laughing, crying, and even gasping. This is the mark of a job well done. I am grateful. I am lucky. But alas, there is still editing to be done. What do you do then, when you have to kill your darlings?

I was dreading the editing phase. How brilliant it feels to finish a draft, but to then wade through tens and tens of thousands of words is daunting! Never mind trying to ascertain what you can do to make it better, without losing the whole thing or straying from what made it intriguing in the first place.

Here are a few things to think about when starting your editing phase:

Getting closer

Remember that you are getting closer to the end result. Closer to your vision. Not perfection. Perfection is not the goal because most of us will not be able to tell when our novel is what it should be. We could, given the option, edit forever! However, after a while, you will begin to ruin it. You will begin to get further away instead of closer to the ideal end product. Take on the editing in stages.

Read through the draft while taking notes on what works and what might notCreate a document (spreadsheet, Notion page, sticky notes, whatever) of each chapter or scene or both and what its purpose is, how the characters are developing, and what the motivations or shifts areBreak it down by act, part, level of tension or whatever works for your story Edit structurallyDevelopmentally (the character arcs, the storyline)ReadabilityLine editsProofreading

Remember: you are just getting closer, taking tiny steps, piece by piece…

“Different hats”

There’s a saying that when you are writing the draft, you are wearing the creative hat. You get to be free and playful and go wild. Then, when editing, you switch to the editor’s hat. This hat means you are more critical. You are looking for ways to make it better. This is where the killing of your darlings saying comes from. You are killing the bits you may love. There may be scenes, characters, magic elements or world elements, paragraphs or even sentences that you adore…but they aren’t making the story great. Therefore, sadly, they need to go!

However, don’t think that wearing the editor’s hat means it’s boring. That you will be all critical and have no space for creativity. Instead, maybe visualise a pen and a pencil. In one hand, you have the pen, in the other, the pencil. The pen is for editing and correcting, the pencil is for creation. As you sift through the draft in revisions, you will use both. Cross out and cut, but then playfully and creatively rewrite and add as needed.

Remember: be critical and daring, but don’t forget to have fun!

Pretend you knew it all along

Neil Gaiman (recent controversy aside) is famously quoted as saying that when you edit, you get to make everything look as if you knew what you were doing the first time around. Even if you are a seasoned plotter, there will be times when your creativity and intuition take over and you write what you didn’t plan to write. The characters know better than us, after all! The editing phase is our chance to make it look like it was planned. To make it all neater, fill in plot holes, hint at twists, and watch a clear character arc unfold. It’s our chance to feign genius!

Remember: this is the part where you get to show off and pretend you’re a storytelling master on the first go!

Sand into sandcastles

The hard work of drafting is done. No more dreaded blank page! You get to use all the sand you have shovelled into the pit and make it into a beautiful castle now. That’s the exciting part, and something we need to remind ourselves. We are still playing, still having fun by being creatively free, just without the fear of a blank document. We get to move and cut and pull and switch and rewrite and embellish as freely as we like.

There is no “right” way to edit. Get it done your way, just like you drafted your way.

And remember, editing and revisions are not about getting it perfect right away (or at all). It’s just another draft! And another. And another. Each a little piece of you and your craft; your brilliant, creative mind playing freely. Or perhaps the better metaphor is the editor hat wearer, the murderer ready to find the weak links! Either way, my point is that editing can and should be fun. It’s a stricter process than first drafts, but it’s a chance to make your draft into a book. Isn’t that exciting?!

So kill them dead, darlings!

Sincerely,

S. xx