Word Cancer: Cut it Out (aka Kill Your Darlings)

It's been just over a week since I found out I had cancer, but it's been three weeks since I had it cut out of me. How is that? Well, I had thyroid nodules that had gotten big enough that they needed to be removed. I opted to have my whole thyroid removed because of a family history of thyroid cancer, even though I didn't know for sure that the tumors were cancerous (the biopsies had all come back negative or inconclusive). A week after the surgery, I got the call: cancer. And I'm so glad it's no longer a part of me.

So, how is this related to business or writing?

If it doesn't belong, cut it out!

Most writers have heard the phrase "kill your darlings." I thought it came from Stephen King, and many others have attributed it to contemporary authors, but the earliest known use of the phrase comes from the 1913–1914 Cambridge lectures "On the Art of Writing" by Arthur Quiller-Couch.

He wrote:

If you here require a practical rule of me, I will present you with this: ‘Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.

So what does it mean exactly? In my opinion, it means being willing to toss out things you love in your writing to make space for things that will resonate with readers. In fiction writing, that doesn't necessarily mean cutting out favorite scenes or favorite characters (which I have done), but it can mean taking out some of the precious words you have written. In nonfiction or content writing, the same is true. Just because a tagline is clever or a statistic is super cool doesn't mean it is what is best for the company or brand.

Sometimes we have to cut out the things that are a part of us. The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland in your neck that controls your body's metabolism, energy use, and organ function by releasing vital hormones. When a thyroid isn't functioning (or you don't have one), it can affect your heart and breathing, body temperature, mood, weight, growth, and reproduction. For such a small gland, it does a big job.

The words we write are the life of our stories, whether it's a brand story or the next New York Times bestseller. But not all words are necessary for the story to resonate and come to life for others. That's the distinction. Just because YOU love it doesn't mean it's needed or even, dare I say, good.

I had to cut out a scene in a book this week. I'd spent weeks creating the scene in my latest romantic suspense. It was a beautiful scene. Unfortunately, it slowed the pace of the story and wasn't necessary for the plot. So I killed that darling. I may end up using it later. It's currently sitting in a file I affectionately call "Mis Novios," Spanish for "my boyfriends" (aka darlings).

I now take a small pill every morning to replace the hormones my thyroid used to make. Something so small helps my body keep doing what it needs to do.

Sometimes writing needs a smaller replacement, too. A whole scene becomes a few lines of dialogue. A long paragraph becomes one clear sentence. We keep what the story needs, even if it looks different from what we originally imagined.

Maybe that scene will find its way into another book. Maybe it won't. But loving it wasn't a good enough reason to keep it where it didn't belong.

Whether we're writing a novel, a tagline, or a blog post, we have to be willing to ask: Is this serving the story, or am I just attached to it?

We can love the words and still let them go.