Murder your darlings

Murder your darlings (some times referred to as Kill your darlings) is a phrase that is advice for writers not to hesitate when there is reason to remove part of their work, even if it is something they consider their very best writing.

Having to remove something you like is painful. You’ll have to remind yourself that you’re doing it for the sake of the best result, but it feels counter intuitive, because how can removing something good, be good?

Writers are not the only people who have to overcome this challenge.

I’m not sure whether film makers use the phrase ‘murder your darlings’ when they work, but I know that they have the same challenge as the writers. Perhaps even more so. It takes a lot of time to make a movie. From writing the script till it hits the theaters, it can take up to around 18 months with no delay. The shooting alone takes from 1 to 6 months. One single scene, maybe 1 minute in the movie, may take several days on the set, with dozens of people working hard to produce this perfect minute.

With all this work, I’m sure you agree the editing part of film making must be painful. This is there they will have to murder some darlings. They may realize one of the scenes that they put a lot of effort into, is simply not good for the movie. Maybe the editor will suggest “shouldn’t we cut directly to this scene instead?” not knowing that the director was particularly proud of the scene in between. Now, assuming the editor is right of course, the director will have to kill his darling – in this case the darling is the scene that’s good, but just not good for the movie.

In addition to writers and movie directors, I also have to murder my darlings some times. In fact, anyone in a process that involves creative thinking, should be aware of this phrase. You may get an idea that you think is great and the more you think about it, the more you fall in love with it. And as with anything you are in love with, you cannot see their faults. But then you have to remind yourself to step back and objectively reconsider the whole thing. Or even better, get someone impartial to give you their opinion about it – make sure to not reveal that you are in love with the idea, or you might not get their honest opinion.

And then, if it turns out the idea is just not that good, you’ll have to murder it, however much you love it.