Review Tales
Book Magazine – Publishing – Editing
Why is being an author all about ‘murdering your darlings’ and ‘letting go of your babies’? By P.J. Murphy
The expression ‘murder your darlings’ was originally expressed by Arthur Quiller-Couch[1] before being popularised by Stephen King[2]. It refers to pieces of writing you are proud of but which don’t add to the overall story. This resonates with me. It’s one thing to live in a novel’s world and dwell in beautifully-written passages and quite another to endure pages of pointless prose.
I have murdered plenty of darlings over the years. My ideas come to me in short scenes or snippets of dialogue. As a writer, it’s my job to piece these together and polish over the gaps. A lot of material gets culled during that process. I have learned to be quite brutal about it.
It took me about 15 years to complete my second novel, Dead Letters. When it came to the final edit, I realised I had explained too much. This was more a prop to me as the writer than for the benefit of the reader. It had to go. The novel is a lot tighter for it.
I have heard many authors talk about letting go of their babies. We toil away on our creations, nurturing them until they are ready to stand on their own feet. The idea of having someone else read your work can be terrifying, even if that’s been your intention all along.
The answer is to take distance. Once you have taken your novel to a certain level, it will need input from others before it is finished. You have to focus on what you are all trying to achieve: making your manuscript the best version of itself it can be – and you need other people to achieve that.
One aspect I didn’t expect was the empty nest syndrome that followed publication. I self-published so I could track book sales and pages read. It was wonderful thinking about readers having my ideas come alive in their minds, but it felt strange getting little feedback.
The best way to cope with this is to concentrate on your next novel. That’s exactly what I’m doing now. I have a selection of ideas that I’m really excited about. So please excuse me as I get back to them!
P.J. Murphy is the author of Troubleshot and Dead Letters, available from Amazon. Read more about him and follow his blog at pjmurphywriter.com
[1] Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, On the Art of Writing: Lectures Delivered in the University of Cambridge, 1913-14
[2] Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
2 Comments on “Why is being an author all about ‘murdering your darlings’ and ‘letting go of your babies’? By P.J. Murphy”
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Thoughtful post. Thanks for sharing, P.J. I tend to agree for the most part. That said, our darlings are beloved for a reason. Often the writing is good but as you point out in the article, they don’t serve the story. In those cases, I usually cull them from the story that inspired them, but will often save them and adapt them to a short story or another novel I’m contemplating. Good writing that doesn’t fit in a particular story is still good writing.
I can relate to the trepidation associated with letting go of your babies. With my first novel, I was guilty of editing it to death. I kept culling then reinserting snippets trying to “make it better. As my first novel, I suspect it needed more tinkering than my subsequent stories, have, but I think I took it too far and for the reason you mentioned. Fear of the finished product not passing muster. Even though a couple of the folks in my critique group more or less took no prisoners (one of our critiquers had the nick name Chainsaw) I was still afraid of launching the finished product as “ready for general consumption.” It was my editor who finally convinced me to launch it. I did and “West of Tomorrow” has done acceptably, though by no means a hit, in part I’m guessing because I misread the market and also in part because I’m not a particularly strong marketer.
Thanks for sharing. Good post. Best of luck with your next book!
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