Writing Secrets: Those pesky darlings – we can’t help but love them

Posted October 3, 2018

In Jo-Anne Richard's blog, Tips for Writers

I recently gave a workshop at which I was called upon to introduce a young writer to the idea of darlings – and particularly, how to murder them.

She wrote a lyrical passage with much to recommend it. The only problem was, it didn’t fit there. It was wrong for the character, it brought the scene to a halt and it was just a teensy bit over the top.

It was begging to be skewered on the kind of spike we used to keep on our desks when I started out in journalism.

At first, she resisted. She was in love with it. She was dazzled by its beauty. Yes, I said. We always are. That’s why we call them darlings. And that’s where fierce editing comes in.

Perhaps it’s got to do with the intense vulnerability of writing. It’s so much a part of you that it’s hard to see it as a separate being.

You love it with a fierce, protective passion that makes you want to defend it against all detractors. You might have found the perfect cadence for a particular paragraph. When you wrote it, you struggled over it, finding just the right words – not only to express your meaning, but to flow in the most melodic way.

Then there’s the fact that you’ve probably read the thing so many times, it’s developed a rhythm that you’re used to. It has a flow which echoes satisfyingly in your head.

All that can blind you to the fact that a section doesn’t fit there, or isn’t true to your character, or doesn’t take the story forward.

Editing embodies every aspect of your manuscript. It’s no good writing a lyrical description of a place, seen through the eyes of a character who doesn’t have the voice or level of education for that kind of awareness. Or a beautiful scene, which gives a powerful sense of place, yet doesn’t take the story forward or tell us anything about the characters.

It might read beautifully, it might be a paragraph of towering genius, but it might still not fit in your manuscript. Sad, but true.

Read Richard’s latest blog: ‘Monday Motivation: Escape from the real world‘

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Jo-Anne Richards

Jo-Anne Richards is an internationally published novelist with a PhD in Creative Writing from Wits University. Her first novel, The Innocence of Roast Chicken, was originally published by Headline Review in the UK, and has recently been rereleased as one of the prestigious Picador Africa Classics collection. She ran the Honours programme in Journalism & Media Studies at Wits University for fifteen years.