Protect Your Darlings

Posted on by Tom Bont

Writers are often told to become butchers. “Kill your darlings” originally meant something simple: remove the parts of a story you love if they weaken the story. That advice matters. Every writer learns that a beautiful paragraph can hurt pacing, a favorite joke can ruin tension, or a subplot can bury the heart of a … Continue reading Protect Your Darlings

Tom’s Fun with Words – Terrific

Posted on by Tom Bont
Tom's Fun with Words

Terrific did not begin life as a compliment. It comes from the Latin terrificus, meaning “that which causes terror,” built from terrere (to frighten) and facere (to make). When the word entered English in the seventeenth century, a terrific event was something that rattled the nerves, a violent storm, a massive explosion, a spectacle that … Continue reading Tom’s Fun with Words – Terrific