Every Writer When They Hit “Delete” on a Paragraph They Love

By definition, writing is putting words on the page. But before we’re done with a draft, we put our words through a metaphorical meat grinder, adding material, moving things around, reworking phrasing, and…

…deleting.

So…SO much deleting.

We affectionately refer to this as “killing our darlings” — slashing out material we feel emotionally tied to because we cognitively understand it’s necessary to make the piece better overall. The process creates a decent level of internal panic. But as I show in the video below, once the deed is done, we usually feel tons better and can move on pretty quickly.

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How to know when to delete

You can be confident deleting is the right choice if

• the material interferes with the pace of the surrounding content
• you’re repeating material that’s already present earlier in the draft, rather than simply referring to or summarizing the original statements (e.g., “see Ch. 2,” “see discussion on pg. 34”).
• the paragraph muddies your point, opening a Pandora’s box of side topics or complexity
• your meaning or clarity is unchanged when the material is gone
• the content could potentially create unintended problems (e.g., alienating some of your audience, opening up legal issues)

“No” to ineffective paragraphs is “yes” to stronger impact

It’s normal to feel a little attached to what you write — every sentence takes effort and comes from a deep part of you. But part of being an exceptional writer is having enough discernment to understand when silence speaks. Removing and saying no content that doesn’t work means you’re saying yes to words that do real heavy lifting, and when you do that, impact follows.