Kill Your Darlings Apr 2026

"Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings."

A "darling" is any element of your work that you keep out of vanity rather than necessity. Common examples include: Killing Your Darlings - A Writer's Journey Kill Your Darlings

Faulkner later popularized a variation, advising writers to "kill all your darlings" to suppress the natural affection that leads to indulgent, flowery prose. What Qualifies as a "Darling"? "Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a

While frequently attributed to William Faulkner or Stephen King, the phrase originated with in his 1916 book, On the Art of Writing . Quiller-Couch famously wrote: Kill Your Darlings