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PSA: That writing advice about 'killing your darlings' almost ruined my short story
My critique group leader told me to cut any line I was too proud of because it probably didn't serve the story. I trusted her since she had like 10 years of experience. So I went through my 15-page horror piece and removed every clever description I loved, including a whole paragraph about the old house breathing through its walls. I submitted the new version to our group and three people said it felt hollow and lifeless. One guy even asked if I let an AI rewrite it. Turns out the stuff I loved was the stuff that gave the story its voice. I ended up putting most of it back and just trimming the extra words around it. Has anyone else gotten bad writing advice from someone who sounded like they knew what they were talking about?
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tarar2716d ago
honestly I used to think that advice was solid too until I saw someone's work lose all its soul after they followed it. now I just trim like 10% of the excess and leave the good stuff alone, lesson learned the hard way lol
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jennyp1916d ago
Buddy of mine deleted his best scene following that advice. Regretted it for months.
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martin.paige16d ago
oh man that's the thing, everyone's so quick to just delete or scrap stuff because someone online said it's "bad" or "cringe" or whatever. i mean i get it, we all want to make something good, but it feels like we've lost the ability to just trust our own gut about stuff. like i see it everywhere now, not just with writing or art but with like, people changing their whole style or redecorating their room based on what's trending on tiktok. then a month later they miss their old stuff and regret it. maybe it's just me but i think that instinct to delete something that felt right in the moment is usually a mistake, because it came from a real place and that's what actually connects with people, not whatever the current rules are. your buddy probably had something special there that just needed a little polishing instead of the whole trash bin.
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