Emma Grace Connelly

There’s a better way…

It’s a canon event, no matter how you take this advice! Something you love in your story has to change.

Here’s some prompts to get you going (that aren’t just unaliving a character):

✅ Change is (almost always) worse

K*lling offf a character ends their arc, and there’s so many worse things.

What about making them the only one that survives? They can’t not be impacted by the guilt.

Why not severely injure your super-independent character?

If they have to be unalived, twist the knife by making it a senseless sacrifice. Make it amount to nothing. Make it hurt.

✅ The Graveyard

If you don’t already, you need a final resting place for those chapters / scenes / characters that have to be cut.

You worked so hard on them; why not save them for later, when you can reuse them?

✅ The Waiting Period

Don’t start revising immediately after you finish the manuscript, whether it’s fresh off an edit or the first draft. You’ll cut more that way from frustration.

Give your words—and yourself—time to rest. You’ll be able to see a different perspective after a week or two (or a month).
—
Keep writing! 📝

#killyourdarlings #writingbooks #writingfiction