Write, Cut, Rewrite at Oxford’s Weston Library

“Kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings” 

I’ve had this exhibition on my list for quite some time but hadn’t realised how much it might end up speaking to me. For example, I definitely used to think that this quote (as it comes from the King of horror) was about killing characters off and while I understood why that might be difficult, I’ve never been interested in writing horror so it didn’t worry me too much. Now I know exactly what he means and I have killed many darlings. 
I think any writer will be able to tell you that editing your own work, having to get rid of favourite passages because it doesn’t fit with new sections, the wording is wrong, the metaphor is too clumsy, it turns out the character wouldn’t speak like that… the list of reasons for cutting goes on and on. And it hurts! A writer spends time and significant mental currency creating words in the right patterns, even in genres that aren’t considered literary (contemporary romance with a sub-genre of sports romance, just for example). So, editing away all that effort can be painful! 
This exhibition shows that everyone does it. Most writers have to do it. 
The names in this room are such a lovely reminder that even the greats (Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, JRR Tolkien, Ian Fleming) feel the need to update their writing, whether or not it arguably needed it from our future point of view. 
The shock of seeing original drafts written by these great writers made me think about how special each draft is and how many brilliant ideas each one holds even if the ideas don’t end up in the published version. 
My friend made the incredible point of ‘what was cut from our favourite books?’ (thanks, Beth!) which I’ve been thinking about ever since.

One of my favourite exhibits was a list of metaphors that an author has come up with but didn’t have anywhere to put them. Firstly, that’s the most relatable thing I’ve ever seen but again, to see world famous authors do things that I think most writers do (having to cut a section from their current work in progress but loving it too much to discard completely) is such a validating experience! We’re all the same no matter whether we’ve just started out or are on our millionth sale and I think it’s good to remember that when as authors we can get a bit disheartened by no response to publishing queries, a lack of engagement or, god forbid, a bad review. 
All this to say that I’m proud of my first ski romance novel and I know that it fits in with other contemporary romances but I have been suffering from imposter syndrome and this has given me a little bit of a reprieve from that. 
Trust the process - they did.