Yes, it's an old advice. Yes, many famous authors have said so. And still, there's a nagging doubt... why exactly is this so bad?

We don't say it's all wrong. We just don't see how this is proven for all time.

We want to explain our reasoning behind this. There are enough books (and nowadays, blogs and other websites) for writing, like this one. We've read many of them. But this particular question, they couldn't answer. Not in a way that was satisfying to us.

You can find many kinds of advice in these texts. Many of these are obvious (get your grammar right; a big vocabulary helps; research your topic; etc.)

"Kill your darlings" isn't that obviously true. How do we know so? We think this advice should be tested. There are many badfics out there which prove that other rules are there for a reason: If you break them, your story probably sucks.

If "Kill your darlings" is a useful advice, it should be possible to falsify it. If someone decided to deliberately break it, the resulting story should be obviously bad.

So this is the challenge: Where do we find a story where the author didn't kill his darlings, but on the contrary, raised and spoiled them rotten, so to speak? Is there a story like that out there, and if yes, where?

Hope you like our challenge.

CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/schedule-for- ... -1.3829675]Phil Collins wants you to know he's not dead yet
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

I very softly asked, "Did you lose someone?"
"What?"  Her gaze snapped up to me.  "No!  No..."  She trailed
off as her eyes drifted back down to the tabletop.  "A ... friendof mine... got changed.  He's such a goofy guy, kinda loud and
kinda geeky... and they turned him into some kind of kid Yakuza."She looked back up at me.  "It was horrible, he was leading a
gang and breaking windows and scaring the teachers.  And all I
could think was, if I can't beat this monster, he might stay that
way.  And it would be like Umino -- the real Umino -- had died,
and there was just this mean jerk who looked like him left in his
place.  Forever."  She choked back a sob.  "And it would be all
my fault."
I didn't worry whether it would be appropriate or not -- I
reached out and covered her hand with mine.  "No, it wouldn't.  It would have been theirs, whoever they are.  There's no shame orblame in failing in the fight against evil -- only in running
from the fight.  Which you didn't.  And you won, too -- it's
pretty obvious that you did."
She gave me a shaky smile, her eyes glistening with unshed tears."Yeah.  I kicked its butt."  The smile vanished, and the tearsthreatened to spill anyway.  "But not fast enough, and I was
still so scared.  Again."  She rubbed at her eyes with her freehand.  "I don't want to be scared."
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

When Doug plays Swing

And I don't mean that is just in combat.

Just a little reminder - from one republican quoting another. 

On November 6, 2016, Trump spokesperson Scottie Nell Hughes was on CNN, and mentioned that one of Jay-Z's music videos "starts with a crowd throwing mazel tov cocktails at the police in this very much anti-police message."

Yes, that is a rather embarrassing mondegreen... but don't say nothing ever comes of mondegreens.

If you want to make a Mazel Tov Cocktail (as opposed to a Molotov Cocktail), see http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as- ... -1.3840094 for the recipe. They suggest serving it with chopped liver.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

I bring you, Survival in a Nuclear War: Advice on Protection in the Home and one the Farm.

Or how not to die slowly and horribly and keep the cows safe when the rest of the world decides it's time to pop the cork and let the sunshine out.

An interesting and nostalgic read.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

So, since the last election, I moved one county over. So, not far as these things go, but I wasn't sure if I was going to be in the same districts for the US legislature or not. So I went looking for sample ballots.

They weren't hard to find for my current location. (Easier than for my old one, in fact.) Turns out I'm in the same ones for the national stuff. Okay.

But as for the local elections... well, I'd gone digging through the more detailed election results for Iowa in 2012, and noticed a whole lot of the elections for state offices were uncontested. Which is the case this year for three out of five here.

And then there's the 'nonpartisan offices'*. There's a "vote for no more than two" with two names. "No more than four" with four. But the most dramatic would have to be the one for "Soil and Water Conservation District". Vote for no more than three... with one name listed. I'm gonna have to look that one up, I want to know if there'll be a whole bunch of names that get one vote listed.

*I have no idea how nonpartisan they actually are.

The thing is, I'm in a not the most densely populated county (I think) of a not the most densely populated state. So I don't know what of several possible things to put this down to. A lack of interest in these positions? Areas where one party has an overwhelming advantage that no one is interested in challenging? Something else?

So, is your ballot full of holes? And if so, why do you think that is?

-Morgan.

CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.3835542]UFO? Lost Cold War nuclear weapon? Canada's navy to investigate object found off B.C. coast

They're thinking this might be what's left of the very first "broken arrow", which has (so far) never been found.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

This area is a general discussion of anything I've worked on or might work on in the future for Steve Jackson Games.
Please note that it was created by consolidating several different boards, and as such thread titles may be somewhat unclear as to what product or book they refer to.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.