storytelling, storyteller

reminders about editing and killing unlikely darlings

Irisanya Moon (she/they)

May 17, 2026

0:00

-4:21

Are the stories you are telling yourself nourishing you?

Are they brave? Are they generous?

Do they allow for change, for growth, for the breaking and remaking of the self?

If not, let them go and rewrite them with care.

You are the author, after all.

—Joan Didion, The White Album—

In one of my classes this week, I was reminded how Ernest Hemingway edited the last page of Farewell to Arms 39 times. In a 1958 interview with the Paris Review, when asked why, the author said, “Getting the words right.”

Inwardly, I cringed at the thought. Not because I don’t like editing. But more because I cringed at the many ways that could go wrong.

When I look at something, turn it over and turn it over again, I might look at something that never needed to be noticed by me.

But I looked at it. Again.

Much of my writing is a first draft, or a nearly-first draft. I edit as I go along. I edit as I record my substack audios, as I hear the words aloud.

A part of me believes my process to be one of trust.

And yet, I can also see it might also be a process of avoidance.

Maybe something could be better.

If I turned it over. If I looked at it again.

Richard Tipping’s Signs Signed, Brisbane Powerhouse | 📷 Irisanya Moon (2026)

Frequent writing advice reminds us to ‘kill our darlings,’ a reference to removing words we’re overly attached to in a piece.

After all, my humor is not your humor. To include inside jokes that are only funny to me and a few other people is to exclude those not in on the joke.

The ‘darling’ will feel out of place to them, even if it is BRILLIANT to me.

So, they must be removed, perhaps carried to the ever-growing file with ‘ideas that need a home someday.’

This week, a friend and I got to see RF Kuang at Brisbane Powerhouse in a series put on by the Brisbane Writers Festival. We read her book Yellowface as part of a class, and we were excited to hear her speak about her writing.

Outside the venue, we stopped and laughed at the Stop/Go sign, seen in the picture above. I didn’t even notice it the first time I walked around the building. Maybe I’d already written it off as an oddly placed Stop sign because it was red and octagon shaped but it has Go written on it.

I didn’t notice it until someone else pointed it out.

There are stories I tell of myself. Sometimes, I whisper them as I walk around my apartment, as though rehearsing for an interview.

I did this because of this, and that makes sense because I have always been…

The more I look at my writing, the more I look at myself. What darlings do I keep around? What stories do I repeat? How do I want my life to sound in my ears? Where could I let go of old interpretations?

How can I rewrite the story I’ve retold 39 times to anyone who would hear?

The neurodivergent me wants to be truthful and complete in each story I offer to the world and to myself. But no one really cares about some of those pages besides me.

(If I ever need to make a case for my life, I can remember EVERYTHING.)

Many myths, many stories are not complete. They are filled in by translations and context clues. They are interpreted for the modern day, for the storyteller, for the audience.

Maybe killing some darlings is a precise gift, editing one’s life is less about removing and more about clarifying.

Because the more I look at things, the more I understand what I’m trying to say.

The more I understand the life I’m trying to live.

Classes & Events

20 - 22 May - Awaken Your Psychic Gifts Summit - free & online - I’m presenting and participating in a live panel…

Pantheon: Stories of Love, Power & Magick from Greek Mythology - online - TBD

HEARTists Way: Connecting to Creativity & Inspiration - online - TBD

How to Connect & Support

Website: www.irisanyamoon.com

Biosite: https://bio.site/irisanyamoon

Buy my books at my Bookshop storefront or at online booksellers. Or ask a local shop!

Classes, presentations, and workshops here.

Podcast interviews and chats are here.

Social media accounts are Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, and TikTok.

Wanna support me with a donation? Ko-fi

Thanks for reading Heart Magick! This post is public so feel free to share it.