Attention Writers! Please Refrain From Using the Phrase “Kill Your Darlings”

It’s Creepy. It’s Lazy. And I’m Tired of Reading It.

Photo by Howie R on Unsplash

The phrase “in writing you must kill all your darlings” has been attributed to writer and Nobel prize laureate William Faulkner.

It means that writers must ruthlessly eliminate any words, characters, side plots or turns of…