Wednesday, April 13, 2016

K is for Kill Your Darlings

A common bit of advice to new writers is to "kill your darlings." In other words, when you have a piece of writing you think is the most amazing, most beautiful thing you've ever written, cut it out and discard it. Because if you think it's that much over-the-top gorgeous, it's probably not. :-D

Today's tarot deck is the Witches Tarot. Here are a couple of sample cards:

Witches4 

Witches5 

Images courtesy of Aeclectic Tarot

I asked the tarot what element of my writing was most likely to be over-the-top and need to be toned down, revised or eliminated. The card I drew was the Ten of Pentacles.

This card is one of the best for showing happiness in family and friends, financial affairs, home and hearth, and job success. Therefore, I'd interpret this to mean that when I write the HEA (happily ever after) ending, I tend to go overboard and make things *too* perfect. I need to make sure the ending is happy but not saccharine. Believably joyous. And of course, identifiable to the reader.

What "darling" in your writing do you need to cut?

2 comments:

dysfunctionalmind said...

Woah! This will put me in some serious introspection mode. But you are right. There must be something or some genre that we float towards naturally, and over do. Loved the concept of the post, had no clue that tarot cards can be so versatile in use. Have a great challenge!
[@samantha_rjsdr] from
Whimsical Compass

Elizabeth Delisi said...

So happy to hear my post gave you something to think about. Tarot cards can definitely be versatile! I'm learning more each day of this challenge.