Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Discarding bad work is essential to a writer's process.
In plain terms
Writers need to throw away bad drafts.
What can you take from it?
Editing often means deleting more than keeping.

Where it applies

  • drafting
  • editing
  • creative work

Putting it to work

  • kill darlings
  • revise freely
  • delete boldly

Questions to consider

  • Do you save everything?
  • What gets cut?

Another view

Valuing every draft can sometimes preserve hidden gems.

More from Isaac Bashevis Singer

  1. The very essence of literature is the war between emotion and intellect, between life and death. When literature becomes too intellectual - when it begins to i…

    Permalink to quote #43
  2. There is great treasure there behind our skull and this is true about all of us. This little treasure has great, great powers, and I would say we only have lea…

    Permalink to quote #45
  3. The second half of the twentieth century is a complete flop.

    Permalink to quote #42

Related quotes

  1. I think of writing as a sculptural medium. You are not building things. You are removing things, chipping away at language to reveal a living form.

    Will SelfWill Self quote #5
  2. I put the words down and push them a bit.

    Evelyn WaughEvelyn Waugh quote #17
  3. I don't really start until I get my proofs back from the printers. Then I can begin my serious writing.

    John Maynard KeynesJohn Maynard Keynes quote #23