Killing our Darlings (in Edit)
from Two Writers, No Hook
Recorded 2026-06-29 First up is progress reporting. We laugh about both being in a miserable space at the same time. I start, having gone through 50 pages of my latest edit, 30 pages more than the (low) goal we set last episode. I complain about how slow it's going, and I've made some progress on the developmental part of the edit. Michael also had other things interfering with his writing time. Still he made some progress on editing. The coming week is the same with a major wine report due to come out. We have a discussion about the different challenges we face when editing and how we keep track of the changes we make while editing. On to goals. Michael plans to edit five chapters. I'm aiming for another 50 pages of edits done. On to this episode's topic: Killing our Darlings. We talk about what constitutes a "darling" and whether or not darlings happen more often for a seat-of-the-pants writer vs. one who is a plotter. Then we move into how we'll feel when our editors advise us to kill a darling. Michael seems baffled by the idea that people read a few chapters of a book in a bookstore before making a purchase. We digress into a side discussion of implausible plots. Next episode: finding our style.
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