“It is Difficlt to Kill Your Darlings!”
Revisions
I am in the mist revision of my original What Color Is Your Brain?® book, which made me think about my “Darlings”. In one of my earliest writing classes at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, I learned a critical writing rule, which often is difficult to practice. That rule was Willam Faulkner’s quote: “In writing, you must kill all your darlings.”
What Darlings?
What “Darlings” did he mean? If you are writing a book, a business proposal, a report, or an email, your “Darling” are your Words and Ideas. They become our “Darlings” because we become attached to those words and ideas, which makes it difficult to kill them.
Brain Color Darlings
Each Brain Color Personality thinks about their “Darlings” from their perspective.
Yellow Brainers find it difficult to kill their “Darlings” because they believe they have to stay on schedule and meet their deadline.
Blue Brainers find it difficult to kill their “Darlings” because their words make they feel joyfully accomplished.
Green Brainers find it difficult to kill their “Darlings” because they think their words demonstrate their intelligence.
Orange Brainers find it difficult to kill their “Darlings” because they do not like wasting time rewriting their document.
Closing Thought
Whenever you have a writing assignment for business or pleasure remember to “Kill Your Darlings” and make revisions that improve your writing and clarify your communication!
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