How to 'Kill Your Darlings' When Writing. Advice from a Screenwriter.

We're sure you've tried this one before.

You write and write. You're creative, it's fun and you've just finished one scene in particular that you're super proud of. But as soon as you start getting feedback from others, they look at you incredulously.

"Sorry but, I just dosen't make any sense."

Ouch.

So, what should you do now? Is it perhaps time to consider whether to 'kill your darling'?

In this article, Sara Dhimitri gives her best advice on how to approach your script with the mindset of getting rid of things in the text that don't benefit the story, and how to spot whether a 'darling' is good for the story.

Sara: “I think a lot of it is about self-awareness and ego, and that can be so hard to realize.

Typically, I feel like you know what a darling is and which one should be fired, but if you have a hard time deleting it, let a few different people see/read the work and let them judge what they would remove - guess what, it's not exactly the darling you've been thinking of.”

There may also be a difference in when something is a 'darling' depending on the professional background you come from in your writing.

Sara: “I often find that there are the parts as I'm writing where I'm thinking ‘Oh my, this is going to look SO good on camera’ or ‘gosh, this role is going to be fun to play’, because I’m an actor too. But looking this way at a creative writing process is more ego than story. The story needs to be the focus point.

Other than that, there are no good universal advice for killing your darlings. But save the version where your darling is in, and then continue your work without it. When the work is completely finished, you’ve probably forgotten about that darling anyway.”

Do you have a good tip for how to be honest with yourself if something is slowly becoming a 'darling' rather than someting that is needed to tell the story?

The conversation continues on social media