# The darling’s nursing home



## Olly Buckle (Oct 22, 2015)

Ever walked away and had the perfect answer a bit later? “I wish I had thought of that at the time.”
Ever imagined the situation where you had the perfect thing to say, but the situation never arose? Never mind, now is your chance.

Don’t write all those clever bits of dialogue into your novel, they won’t fit properly. Don’t kill your darlings, that is cruel, bring them here to the nursing home for retired darlings, the place for all the things you wish you had said, or wish you had the chance to say

Example;
On being introduced to Simon Cowell, 
“Any connection to Henry Cowell? Never heard of him, not surprised really, you’d need to be a bit of a modern music buff ...”


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## Blade (Oct 22, 2015)

"Is this supposed to be making sense?"


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## Olly Buckle (Oct 22, 2015)

It does to me, is there a particular bit you don't follow or is it the overall concept?

It is a place to put all the things you thought of saying when it was too late, and all the things you think of that might be smart and clever to say in an imagined situation. Better to get rid of them here than to try and write them into your book, they won't fit with the rest of it.

I'll leave you to find out who Simon Cowell and Henry Cowell are in detail, but basically they are into different types of modern music.


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## Blade (Oct 22, 2015)

That was intended as a line I would like to use. Somebody is in an awkward situation uses the line to buy a little thinking time to figure out how to handle things.

It honestly never occurred to me that it might be taken as a challenge to the thread concept.


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## Riis Marshall (Oct 23, 2015)

Hello Olly

Don't know much about Henry Cowell but the only thing I think Simon Cowell is into is Simon Cowell - 'Hello, folks. It's awfully nice of me to be here with you today!'

All the best with your writing.

Warmest regards
Riis


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## Cran (Oct 23, 2015)

Blade said:


> It honestly never occurred to me that it might be taken as a challenge to the thread concept.


Yeah, the quotes were a clue. Call it a case of perfect imperfect timing.

As to the concept, yes, many many times have I thought of something I would have said if I'd thought of it in time rather than too late. Sometimes, I've been lucky enough to get another chance at it; phone scammers, for instance - 

"Hang on. Can you start again at the beginning? I want to make sure I get it all on the recording for evidence." and

"Keep talking. It takes a while to trace these calls."


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## midnightpoet (Oct 23, 2015)

One clarification: is this meant real life, or something you might put in a novel?  

Not sure if this applies, but dealing with people who just don't get it: "Are you a natural moron, or did you have special training?"

Stealth insults may apply: "Sorry to hear about your mother, I'm sure the vet can cure her mange."

When I think of "kill your darlings," I usually think of a particularly spectacular piece of purple prose (for example) that you are proud of but really doesn't belong in the novel.  I probably have some left over from my failed novels.:smile:


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## Terry D (Oct 23, 2015)

Ahhhh... missed opportunities. A few months ago, as I was walking in to a local store here in Iowa (the state in the U.S. with the first caucuses ahead of the general election in 2016) a young man approached me and asked, "Sir, would consider caucusing for Hilly Clinton?" I simply replied "No thanks" even though I despise almost everything Hillary stands for. About two steps later the perfect reply came to mind. What I would have liked to have said is, "I wouldn't touch Hillary with _your_ caucus."


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## Gumby (Oct 23, 2015)

When I lived in California, we were often approached by the same people in parking lots, etc. asking for money and telling the same fake story, ( I ran out of gas, could you spare a fiver?) Of course, they didn't remember you, but you remembered they had approached you last week. I always wanted to say, "I was just about to ask you the same thing! Could you spare a fiver?", but never actually carried through.


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## Amnesiac (Oct 23, 2015)

Heh... I actually have a story about that: I'm in the parking lot of Staples, when a woman comes up and tells me that her car has a flat tire and that she doesn't have the money to fix it, and if I could just give her some money, she'd be able to be on her way. Instead, I reached behind the seat of the Jeep and handed her a can of Fix-A-Flat. She walked off, muttering dark curses. A couple months later, the same woman approaches me with the same sob story. I reach back and pull out the can of Fix-A-Flat. This time, she screams, "GOD DAMN IT!!" and proceeds to have a mini-meltdown, right there in the parking lot. I larfed. A lot. LOL


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## Olly Buckle (Oct 23, 2015)

midnightpoet said:


> One clarification: is this meant real life, or something you might put in a novel?



I really don't mind if it happened, in retrospect you wish it had happened, or you made the whole thing up; anything in the 'too smart for your own good' class goes.


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## Amnesiac (Oct 28, 2015)

Okay...... I'm sitting in the back of the class in my high school English class. I was usually a pretty quiet kid, preferring to do my own thing. Every morning, at the beginning of class, the instructor would make us go through Greek and Latin prefixes, root words, and suffixes. The word of the day was the suffix, -cide. The instructor asked, "Who can tell me what this suffix means?" No one answered. Finally, I spoke up. "It means death! Herbicide, fratricide, matricide, patricide, infanticide, suicide, genocide, insecticide. It means death!"

Thirty pairs of eyes, including the instructor's, all staring at me, looking vaguely horrified. 

I slunk down in my seat... Hrmph...


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