This is a casual variation on a reading circle. There is no real obligation to read each others' stories (although many of us do read each others' work already anyway), and no structured weekly discus...
Let's see... I have heard about killing your darlings before, though more so in relation to streamlining/making sure that the plot doesn't get too convoluted more so than because readers don't connect with it.
Generally speaking, I don't really do this. Kind of. I do try to make sure that everything I include does either move the plot, develop the characters or build on lore, though you can justify most things with one of the three, and sometimes I do fail on that front anyway - which is mostly to do with simlit being a "live" process. By which I mean, if this was a book, once I got to the end I probably would go and cut some of the bits to tidy it up a little, but since I don't fully know what the end will look like yet, that's not really possible. (I doubt the season 1 ending I have in mind will change at this point, but the way I get to it might differ slightly from what I thought at the start, for instance).
In any case, I try to account for that in the planning process rather than with something I've already put work into. I don't think I'd ever cut an entire chapter I already wrote, for instance. Probably (hello, flaky Plumbob). I have dialogue I wrote that I didn't use, but that's not because I was trying to kill my darlings, it was simply because I often get character conversations popping up in my head way ahead of "their" time, but by the time I get to the the conversation, the tone might not be right for them to discuss it so I go with the flow.
For example - Spoilers for the last two chapters I've published (38 & 39):
There was another subject Morgyn and Micah were supposed to discuss during their date, but the conversation took a different turn and it didn't make sense. Or in the latest chapter, my original plan was for Cordelia to say more about how she got her scar, but when I got there it didn't seem like something she would really reveal to Micah. Things like that.
But that's more to do with flow than anything. What might qualify a bit more as what you're describing - the other day somebody that's currently reading the earlier chapters asked how Darrel and Emilia ended up together (not tagging this as spoiler given that they're a premade couple anyway). I do have some headcannon for that, but I don't think it would ever make sense to include in the story. So maybe that's more along those lines, but then again, calling Darrel and Emilia my darlings would be a bit of a stretch. It's also something that's only in my head, not something I actually have written up.
I think if it was a matter of something I was particularly enthusiastic/passionate about, I would definitely include it regardless of whether I think my readers will care or not. a) I mostly write for myself and b) I am terrible at predicting who and what my readers will connect with, so if I went by that alone, I doubt my assumptions would be right anyway.
I do often have issues with dripping in lore that exists in my head, has some relevance but does not make sense in the context of what's happening, i.e. the characters are unlikely to suddenly burst into a presentation on a particular subject. But I think that's slightly different from what you mean, because it actually is stuff that is relevant in the context of the story, I just can't find good places to shove it in.
So, to sum up... I think about the flow a lot, about the readers not so much (sorry), and if I have a whim, I usually try to find a way to make it happen (I am a little bit Morgyn that way, heh).
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