Answers · By Sun Yi, creator of the Myth Sandwich
How do I cut words from my story?
Short answerSun calls this 'Kill Your Darlings.' Every word that doesn't carry the story forward has to go. Narrow down to one lesson, then cut anything that doesn't support it.
What to Cut
- Cut anything that doesn't support the one single lesson of the story.
- Remove ego words like 'as I mentioned in my book' or 'unpopular opinion' since they serve your ego, not the reader.
- Cut redundant adjectives like 'quietly whispered' or 'steep cliff' because one word already says it.
How to Do It
- Go through every sentence and brutally ask yourself: is this really needed, or is it just bragging?
- Rewrite every sentence until every unnecessary word is gone.
- Do this again and again because each pass finds more to remove.
Try itOpen a saved story in Story Bank and delete any sentence that doesn't connect back to your one lesson.
This answer comes from Sun Yi's Story Bank Library.
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