Kill Your Darlings, Darling

[the_moonmoth]

In my last post I mentioned killing one of my darlings to move my current fanfic project forward and a couple of people interpreted that... not how I'd intended. I have no particular training or education in literature, and I only came across this quote for the first time a couple of years ago, so I have no idea what it's "supposed" to mean, but

Comments

[kylathelurker]

Thank you for the clarification on what you meant *blushes* I guess we're so used to having our favorites killed off literally in shows/books etc that maybe we take it a little too close to heart? Am relieved that our main darlings won't be meeting the ax anytime soon. Though I really need to get off my duff and read this tale! Then again, maybe I should watch S6-7 first??

That is a really powerful sample I'm sorry to hear that its being set aside. I rather like this insight into Dawn's mindset, and her observations. She really feels wise and almost ageless here. Perhaps you don't have to toss it? Maybe leave it as an outtake or hidden moment type thing for later??

Glad to hear that Camp NaNo is working out for you and that the muses are keeping you inspired!! =D

[the_moonmoth]

I guess we're so used to having our favorites killed off literally in shows/books etc that maybe we take it a little too close to heart?

Understandable, given certain creators' sadistic streaks ;) It's a funny little phrase, too -- took me a while to parse it when I first heard it.

maybe I should watch S6-7 first

Yeah, there are some spoilers in the story, even though it goes AU towards the end of S5. You'll probably get more out of it if you've seen the whole show. And don't worry, the story has been stuck in WIP land since *checks* oh god, since September D: and I'm not going to update the new stuff until a) it's done or b) the start of July, depending on which comes first. So there's plenty of time :)

Sadly, I really think this particular snippet just isn't usable. I mean, I always keep my cut scenes in a file, just in case, but by the time Dawn's POV comes back, things will have moved too far along, I think. But, some more good advice I was once given -- there's plenty more where that came from.

[dancingdragon3]

Congrats on all the writing!

It may not be a 'character', but yeah, I'd say that definitely counts as a Darling. The paragraph is beautiful, and I like the idea of Dawn respecting Anya for her honesty. She didn't get enough of that, IMO. But what Dawn thinks about Buffy was moving, sad, and hopeful, too.

I appreciate hearing about your writing process. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to have to take a fan fic reading vacation soon. So many of you are working on such thoughtful stories.

I had a sort of similar scenario where I had to scrap a small romantic comedy plotline, because I realized the catalyst for it should really happen much sooner, there fore changing everything, including personalities that were a lot of fun to work with. :-( But I console myself, that the versions of those characters still exist as an AU to my series, and I can visit them on Dropbox whenever I want.

Hope camp continues to go well!

[the_moonmoth]

The paragraph is beautiful, and I like the idea of Dawn respecting Anya for her honesty. She didn't get enough of that, IMO.

Thank you :) One of my headcanons is that Dawn craves honesty and straightforwardness, because hardly anyone in her life ever says what they really mean.

Yeah, editing stuff out can be such a tough decision. Totally worth it, though, since the story has moved on a lot more smoothly since I took that part out.