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Kill your darlings

Russ

Istar
This isn't fantasy related but it is book related. So true, Be Prepared to Throw Pages Away (Lots of Pages) ~ April Dávila.

What's your ratio? I'd guess I'm at 20:1 and I'm still going so 30:1 sounds a true effort.

Since I have not yet published fiction my published to thrown away ratio would be pretty hard to calculate.

High ratios make sense for beginning writers. They make little sense for people who have developed a high level of skill.

I know a bunch of people who make their living writing fiction. None of them would have a ratio like that. A friend of mine not too long ago had to toss 40,000 words out of a book he was working on, but that was a huge blow for him.

For people who write for a living, on a book, or heaven forbid, two book, a year contract you just can't have ratios that high. I would think most professional writers would come in under 10:1 or 5:1.

So the right number should vary a lot based on the writer's experience and training.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
We will see how it goes with my longer works. With short stories, I sometimes add, sometimes delete. Usually it's a combination of the two. The last short story I sold only had a one-paragraph change from the original draft, so the ratio there was pretty low.
 

Annoyingkid

Banned
This is generally not how I work, as anything I write, I have to illustrate. Which is a pain in the ass. I'd rather spend enough time on preparation so I know what I'm doing early on.
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
I'm not pub'd yet, so no real idea, but... I can't imagine throwing away that many pages. I delete bits and pieces all over, and ditched a POV, to get word count down and still... All told, I'd guess 1:1. But I'm not a freewheeling discovery writer, most of my deletions are refining the prose rather than wiping huge swaths of text and altering story.

Exception: all the crap I wrote over the years I would never even attempt to get pub'd, LOL.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
I am not sure the phrase 'Kill your Darlings' quite means the same as how many pages do we cut. Kill Your darlings I always took to mean something along the lines of don't get so attached to characters, or phrases or word choices or anything really, that you leave them in the work when they should more properly be cut.

I think discarding a lot of writing in the stages between rough draft and finished product goes with the territory. I don't think much of my rough drafts survive the rewrite phase. Some places in a story I may go over many many times and change them each time. Since I tend to work without an outline, I do often have to discard many pages cause the story has just gone off course. It is mildly painful each time, but I get over it. The opening suggests writing 20 pages worth of stuff for every 1 that is a keeper. I've no idea what my ratio is, but it certainly greater than 2:1.
 
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Aurora

Sage
I agree with this. Killing your darlings applies to more than just characters. It includes sentences, paragraphs, entire scenes, ideas, oh just throw in the kitchen sink why don't ya?
 

Insolent Lad

Maester
I don't really 'kill' my darlings, that is, passages and lines and scenes that I like — I save them in a file for use in some other story down the line. I mean, if they were 'good' but not suited to the WIP I am not going to throw them out (if nothing else, they may serve as inspiration of a sort).
 

Aurora

Sage
I don't really 'kill' my darlings, that is, passages and lines and scenes that I like — I save them in a file for use in some other story down the line. I mean, if they were 'good' but not suited to the WIP I am not going to throw them out (if nothing else, they may serve as inspiration of a sort).
That's a good idea I'm going to have to borrow it.
 
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