Don’t Kill a Darling Just to Kill a Darling
(This essay is based, in part, on the ending to the television series How I Met Your Mother, which aired over seven years ago in 2014 — if you are still avoiding spoilers, you probably shouldn’t read this!)
You’ve probably heard some variation of this writing advice nugget before:
- “Murder your darlings” — Arthur Quiller-Couch
- “In writing, you must kill all your darlings” — William Faulkner
- “[K]ill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings” — Stephen King
There are arguments that other versions of the quote exist, even before Quiller-Couch’s advice On Style was published in 1914.
But the origins of the quote are not the point. (Though I firmly believe in taking the time to attempt correct attribution whenever you can.)
The quote has good intentions, and it often does lead to better writing.
There are a number of stylistic “crutches” that we lean on as writers. We’re scared to take those steps that allow our most basic ideas, our unornamented sentences, and our simplest words to stand on their own.
Sometimes, those “crutches” are what make our writing, our writing.
