Time to Kill Your darlin's

[alzie]

So, I've been writing this scene, this critical point in which I show that my antagonistic, a psychopathic human possessed by a parasitic, interdimensional parasite, shows his ability to control all those around him. It envisions a large, hairy ham that morphs into his father's brutal fist...psychically pulverizing the creature's captured audience...but it doesn't work. It slows the progress of the story. It has to go, and it breaks my heart doing so. Gotta Kill My Darlin's :-(

 

[Luxuria]

So, I've been writing this scene, this critical point in which I show that my antagonistic, a psychopathic human possessed by a parasitic, interdimensional parasite, shows his ability to control all those around him. It envisions a large, hairy ham that morphs into his father's brutal fist...psychically pulverizing the creature's captured audience...but it doesn't work. It slows the progress of the story. It has to go, and it breaks my heart doing so. Gotta Kill My Darlin's :-(

Well, if something doesn't work, then it is best cut. Even if you love it. Trust me. I have had some plots in my stories that I adored that just didn't work or were needed. So, chop, chop! But you can always keep that scene for your own enjoyment.

 

[GlitterRain]

If it isn't fitting in your current story, but you really love it, you could always take it out, paste it into another document, change up the characters, setting, etc. a little, and rework it into a new story!

 

[X Equestris]

If it isn't fitting in your current story, but you really love it, you could always take it out, paste it into another document, change up the characters, setting, etc. a little, and rework it into a new story!

Seconded.

Years back, I tried to write this dark fantasy piece with a mad artist villain whose lifelike sculptures are in fact made from his victims. The first scene turned out great—the heroine encounters this horrendous abomination made from the villain’s “leftovers” while trying to climb up a well into their estate—but the overall concept of the story just wasn’t working for me anymore, so I abandoned the whole thing.

However, the monster was too awesome to waste, so I stuck that section in a scrap file for safekeeping. Fast forward to last year and I was able to rework this encounter into the climax of an unrelated novelette with minor alterations, which saved a ton of time.

I’m not sure I would’ve beaten the submission deadline I was working under if not for the scrap file, so maybe it’s less “kill your darlings” and more “put them on ice”.