To paraphrase the great sci-fi writer Stephen King: Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your heart, kill your darlings. Translation: stay on point and mercilessly avoid side stories and anecdotes. With much respect for Mr. King, The History of Man Series is precisely that, a great deal about all those little darlings, a style of writing termed “jumping off.”
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“The great sci-fi writer Stephen King.” Engenders so much trust in the author’s judgment, don’t you think?
Everybody knows that saying originated with the sci-fi writer William Faulkner (not to be confused with the actor who played Captain Kirk)
Translation: “I’m not sure who Stephen King, I don’t understand what he meant by ‘Kill your darlings’ but I am totally qualified to write a novel and use his name.”
the unshakeable confidence of a mediocre white man
Could we not bring extraneous factors like race and gender into it? We’ve seen plenty of Dunning-Kruger from all ethnicities and both genders.
True. My apologies to the LBC community and beyond.