How to be a Killer 101

If you've been following along with our theme of "killing your darlings" in the month of May, you've gotten lots of great advice. And one unrelated but super catchy Disney song, which, I mean, is a bright light amidst such a dark and twisted topic as killing. But back to the killing now.

Welcome to your new class. How to be a Killer 101. I've brought you four (well, technically five) fictional killers to give you quick killer tips based on their expertise.

[DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters. All dialogue is purely fanfiction.]

Dexter Morgan, from Dexter

Source: Giphy.com

Dexter: Keep your killing neat. Cleanup after yourself. Trim the parts no one will miss so no one will come looking. Leave the world a better place and no one will be motivated to look into a disappearance too much. Especially if you play the part of pleasant little writer so they don't suspect you.

Lesson: Don't hack away at your book like a madman. Step back and look at what won't be missed. What doesn't contribute to your story? Get rid of it, tidy up, and move on to the next.

Norman Bates, from Bates Motel

Source: Giphy.com

Norman in his mother's dress: My son doesn't know what's good for him. That's why I look out for him. He's my baby. A little naive. But I know best. I'm a very capable woman, wouldn't you agree? And he spends time with such terrible influences...

Lesson: If you can't see what darlings you need to kill in your story, get a different perspective. Sometimes that means asking critique partners, and sometimes that means blacking out, putting on your mother's dress, and looking at things through her point of view.

Sylar from Heroes

Source: Giphy.com

Sylar: Which is better? To have a few people with powers who don't appreciate the intricacy...the importance of their gifts? Or to have one worthy person wield all that power and not waste it?

Lesson: It's better to have one super badass character with depth and layers than to have multiple characters taking up space. You might need to kill a couple darlings to condense them into one character.

Huck and Quinn from Scandal

Source: Giphy.com

Quinn: Okay, writers, you ready to kill? You better be because this is messy business. You think I'm kidding? Look me in the eyes and and tell me if I'm kidding. I_will_kill if I have to. I'm ready. Are you?

Huck: I think they get it.

Quinn: Oh they get it? They don't get it. They're not twisted enough. Not desperate enough. But I am. I need the answers, and I'll do whatever it takes to get them.

Huck: [dark, twisty gleam in his eyes] Like killing.

Quinn: Like killing.

Lesson: For some people, killing your darlings can be fun, but don't get all dark and twisty for no reason. If you have to, you have to. If your story isn't working, kill what needs to be killed. Get to the bottom of the problem at all costs. Your book depends on it.

...

Jessie Mullins is a mommy blogger who writes YA and shares bookish things on Facebook. She's married to her highschool sweetheart and has an adorable toddler son.

Lop of their heads!

Welcome to May, everybody! I'm extra happy this month, as it happens to be my birthday, which means I get to splurge a little.

Our awesome Sharon Johnston came up with the idea of "Killing your Darlings" for our May theme (don't you just love themes? In fact, you may (boom boom) have noticed a theme throughout our blog this year!). Yes, that was corny, but I really couldn't help myself.

There are a lot of ways to kill your darlings (it could be sentences, scenes, paragraphs, characters, dialogue, etc.). However, I'm going to talk about ones people rarely talk about. *Whispers dramatically* *long pause* Books. Yes, you heard me. Books. Sometimes you just have to cut that darling free. Hold on, let me explain. I mean this in two ways. Let me ease you into this by offering you the abstract version:

1) At some point or another, you're going to have to stop editing, polishing, tweaking, and adjusting that baby bird book of yours and cut the apron string - let it fly out into the agent slush pile, or out on submission, or out to your CPs. I know it's hard. You want your darling to stay your darling forever. But what if someone hurts it? Doesn't like it? Says my characters are flat? Gasp - hate it?! Well, thems the breaks. I'm not being harsh here. It burns like hell. However, there are benefits. Feedback will help you improve. You'll learn about subjectivity. You'll gain a new perspective. But, you'll also learn that, well, you can't please everyone, and you can't be perfect. And people will have read your book. That's the point of becoming a published author, right? So, as hard as it is, kill that darling string of yours, and let your baby book go.

Okay, that wasn't so bad, now was it? Good. Glad we're on the same page. This bit, though, is going to be tougher:

2) Sometimes you're going to actually have to kill your book. I mean it's got to go. Your book might be written in the wrong tense - give it up and start again, darling. It might be the wrong character POV. That's right - kill the POV and choose another one. It might be the wrong story. WHAT? The wrong story? But I wanted to write that story! Hey, calm down. No one's arguing with you there. What I'm saying is that your story may have went off track. What you wanted to write might have gotten muddled up, your vision changed, your characters went off track...in fact, any number of things could have derailed your story. That means you have to kill that darling story and start from scratch. Painful, I know, but a good writer always does what's best for their vision, and if that means starting again, then that's what you've got to do.

There you go. That's killing your darling. Ah, wait, one more thing. Don't shoot me, but sometimes a book just doesn't work for publishing. It might be a saturated market, the book might not just have a wide enough appeal, it might be too niche of a market, it might not fit comfortably on the book shelves. There are a lot of reasons a book might not get published. I'm afraid that at some point, you might have to kill one of your books. I have a few dead ones myself. That doesn't mean I don't love them. It doesn't mean they weren't worthy. It just means that right now, you need to work on something fresh. Make sure you're moving forward, being objective, and remember...this is a business, as well as an art.