“Kill your darlings” is a wise piece of writing advice most commonly attributed to Arthur Quiller-Couch. To put it another way, don’t be afraid to delete stuff from your writing if it’s adding nothing to the story.
There’s no doubt that deleting handwritten material is tremendously satisfying. You can do it in all kinds of ways – shred it, burn it, even launch it into space. Whichever method you choose, it’s a visceral experience, very rewarding.
However, when you write with a word processor, the act of deletion is sadly lacking in drama. You press a key and it’s gone. Where’s the passion? Where’s the anger? How can electronic deletion deliver the same catharsis as, say, grabbing the ten pages of manuscript you just spent a whole morning sweating over (and which you just reread only to conclude they stink), tearing them apart bodily and hurling them into the wastebin?
So, here’s my challenge to programmers. Write me some software where, when I hit delete, the whole page disintegrates, or melts, or explodes into flaming shards of atomic chaff. With suitable sound effects, of course.
Make sure there’s an undo though. Just in case.
Graham Edwards 