Kill Your Darlings guide - How to decide what really needs to go

Every author knows it: that one phrase, that one sentence, that one scene that we love - but which bloats the text rather than strengthening it. This is exactly where the Kill Your Darlings guide on. It helps you to decide with a clear view what can stay and what has to go, without losing your creative voice.

Many people see the advice „Kill your darlings“ as a brutal cut. But it's actually about something completely different: making your text so strong, clear and precise that every line carries. That nothing is left out of vanity and nothing is removed out of insecurity.

So that you can implement this safely and professionally, you will find the comprehensive Kill Your Darlings guide - including practical examples, decision rules, professional tricks and tips on how Scribigo makes shortening much easier.

⭐ Why you need a Kill Your Darlings guide

Creative writing means heart, emotion, passion. But it is precisely this passion that makes it difficult to objectively judge whether a post is really necessary. Especially if we have invested a lot of time or emotion into it.

The Kill Your Darlings guide helps you to distinguish these text favourites from functional elements. It shows you:

How to recognise emotional attachment
how to evaluate text passages neutrally
how to strengthen structure, rhythm and tension
how to reliably identify repetitions or superfluous information

The result: a focussed, clear, professional text that really resonates with readers.

Suitable, further resource: Building good stories - Reedsy's writing rules

⭐ Filler words - delete or keep?

A classic in every Kill Your Darlings guide: Filler words. They are constantly pilloried - wrongly. Filler words are allowed to stay, when they do something:

she transports voice („That's just the way it was.“)
they create rhythm
they create atmosphere or uncertainty

Only those who do nothing are problematic.

A simple decision-making tool:

👉 Read the sentence without a filler word. If only the clarity increases, but not the meaning drops → delete.

Example: „He may have been a little confused.“ → overloaded „He was confused.“ → same statement → delete

But: „He may have been confused.“ → transports uncertainty → retain

Filler words are tools. They deserve differentiated evaluation - not blanket rejection.

⭐ Kill Your Darlings - what should really go out?

Now to the core of this Kill Your Darlings guide. What are typical strike candidates?

Figurative metaphors that „want too much“
long passages that show self-indulgence rather than action
Beautiful descriptions without function
Flashbacks that destroy the pace and tension
Repetitions that have secretly crept in

The central question is:

👉 Does this passage serve the story - or just my ego?

Typical indications that the darling has to go:

the information will be repeated later
the atmosphere reappears
the passage interrupts the arc of suspense
the passage has no story impact
it seems like a stylistic experiment without relevance

If you're unsure: that's normal. An outside view can help - or a tool like Scribigo, which carries out a completely neutral check.

For a deeper understanding: Creative Writing Advice - Kill Your Darlings explained by MasterClass

⭐ Show, don't tell - but please make sense

An important point in the Kill Your Darlings guide„Show, don't tell“. The advice is correct - but often dangerously exaggerated.

Many believe you have to show everything. But this leads to texts that are overflowing and tiring.

You should show:

Feelings
Atmosphere
Physical reactions
Sensory impressions

You should tell:

Background information
Time jumps
Transitions
incidental details

Examples:

Show: „Her heart raced when he whispered her name.“

Show: „The mist clung to her skin like cold breath.“

Narrative: „Three days later, she reached the deserted village.“

The Kill Your Darlings task at this point: Delete unnecessary tell. Keep the necessary tell.

⭐ 3 sentence beginnings that destroy tension

There are certain sentence beginnings that immediately take away speed and energy:

❌ „Then...“ ❌ „Suddenly...“ ❌ „And then...“

Why?

They announce events instead of letting them happen directly.

Example: ❌ „Then she heard a crack behind her.“ ✔ „A crack behind her made her freeze.“

The second movement starts in the middle of the scene - without warning.

Rule: 👉 Start with what's really happening, not by hinting at it.

⭐ Dialogues that sound natural - and when you need to kill them

Dialogues are pure effect. But many seem unnatural because they:

too smooth
too correct
too literary
too constructed

sound.

Trick from the Kill Your Darlings guide:

👉 Read each dialogue aloud. If you stumble while reading or think „Nobody would say that“ → change or delete.

People talk chaotically. Figures can do that too.

More tips: Dialogue Writing Guide - Now Novel

⭐ If you find shortening difficult: Scribigo can help you

Objectivity is almost impossible when writing, especially after weeks or months of working on a text. And this is exactly where the Kill Your Darlings guide often a challenge.

Scribigo's style analysis provides a remedy. It marks:

too many filler words
unnecessary wording
Repetitions
weak sentence beginnings
Show/tell problems
stylistic overload
Lack of variation
monotonous structures

And the most important thing:

👉 You will receive concrete alternative suggestions, not just red flags. 👉 You get priorities - what should be cut most urgently. 👉 You recognise patterns that you don't see yourself.

This is how you find out:

Which darlings disrupt the flow of the text?
Which parts are valuable for mood or voice?
Where you need to tighten without losing yourself?

⭐ Conclusion - The Kill Your Darlings guide protects your voice

Many people are afraid of deleting their favourite sentences. But the truth is:

Kill Your Darlings is NOT called „Kill your voice“. They say:

Gain clarity
Set focus
Remove superfluous items
Emphasise strengths
Improve rhythm and tension

Writing is art. Shortening is a craft.

The Kill Your Darlings guide combines both - and makes your texts powerful, taut and professional.