"We have never met in person, and likely never will. But these are people I trust to tell me the truth. I wouldn’t have it any other way."
Yes!
(And sometimes, rarely, we do somehow meet face to face.)
#Kill your darlings - words, scenes, phrases, even certain characters, may need to be weeded out of your story or poem. We are told to write what we'd want to read and ignore those who don't like it, but that has to be balanced with being blind to our own shortcomings and not the best judges of our own work. A thin line to walk. Some writers will never part with their semi-colons, their head-hopping or omniscient POV, their exclamation marks (only one! per book! should ever! be allowed!). Some writers love -ly words and variations on said:
"Never!" he barked angrily.
I've spent thousands of hours reading and commenting on other people's words, and I had to step back and try to regain my stories, but they are still in hiding. They cower in a dusty cupboard, remembering the harsh judgments and forgetting the praise. And in workshops you may get both ridicule and praise in equal measure, which makes it all the more confusing and hard to discern: what to use, and what to lose (so much advice! so often conflicting advice!).
And now I have used up my exclamation points for a month. :)
Thank you Jayna for these thoughtful writing tips!
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