When Does Murdering Your Darlings Become a Massacre?

but, are you though?

"Murder your darlings" might be the most frequent (and helpful) advice bestowed upon beginning writers.

All writers have some pet trope, literary device, or grammatical hang up. Some of us pile on the similes and metaphors like novice queens caking on foundation at their first drag show. Others use litanies, lists, and hyperbole to the point of exhaustion and redundancy. Still, others very rarely write a sentence that doesn't contain at least one instance of the word "very."

There's a reason writers have betas, proof-readers, and writing communities. We all need help seeing our work clearly.

The issue becomes: what happens when a writers entire vision for their work is interrupted by an editors concern for the works commercial success?

There's a lot of debate over the effectiveness and quality of self-published work. Some of it is very clear-cut. Yes, you should absolutely hire a proof-reader to catch your grammar and spelling faux pas. Yes, you need to hire someone to design your book cover if graphic design is not your forte.

However, if you have something very specific--and possibly controversial--to say in your book, who do you trust to edit it? Indeed, should you trust anyone?

The original manuscript that became Singing to The Dark was a treatise on trauma and the importance of sharing one's story of it in order to heal. The original material included stories explicitly about literal (and figurative) hauntings, forbidden love, and the pressure to conform to sexual expectations while healing from sexual assault. Much of it was toned down and most of it, I can finally admit after two years of moping, was to great effect, but there are certain things I wish I hadn't had to fight so hard for, like: mention of the supernatural, the emphasis on healing from trauma and not just the experience of trauma, and women actively choosing not to become mothers.

Art is subjective, and there will always be debate about what makes a piece good or bad, but if you are creating in order to say something about the world, your book is your book, your painting is your painting, your song is your song, and, goddamn it, don't let anyone take that away from you.