Writing (Photo credit: jjpacres)
The Most Valuable Word
I was an adult before I understood what bad writing was. I knew when I liked a story, of course, but I couldn’t tell if it was really bad or good. Worse, I worried that I was guilty of bad writing myself. I was afraid I’d show a manuscript to someone who would somehow know, and they’d laugh at me.
Carson McCullers photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1959 July 31 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
One day I picked up a book called The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter because I liked the title. The book had been written more than sixty years before, but the writing inside was fresh and luminous. Each word seemed to have been chosen carefully, like gems for a mosaic.
“Singer brought out from the closet the tin box in which he kept crackers and fruit and cheese. He selected an orange and peeled it slowly. He pulled off shreds of pith until the fruit was transparent in the sun. He sectioned the orange and divided the plugs between them. Jake ate two sections at a time and with a loud whoosh spat the seeds into the fire. Singer ate his share slowly and deposited his seeds neatly in the palm of one hand.”
-The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers
Carson McCullers wrote like her character Singer peeled oranges.
I suddenly understood that good fiction is good because it’s true. It’s a paradox, but fiction has to be true. Not just what goes on in the story, but every word you choose for a story has to also be true. No false notes. It’s the falsity that makes for bad writing. This is why you don’t need a degree in English literature to tell a good story from a bad one, and sometimes the most adept critics are people who don’t necessarily know anything about books. They just have a sense for when something rings false.
Now when I edit a story, I go through each sentence and each word and ask myself, ‘Really?’ ‘Really?’ is the most useful word I know right now. If something fails that test, I take it out. This has improved my writing immensely.
A.M. Murphy
A.M. Murphy lives in Lowell, MA. She blogs and posts some of her fiction at Black Screech Owl.
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Really? I love that word! The best fiction I read is that which can suspend disbelief, even if it’s a paranormal or sci-fi, where the “normal” rules don’t count, it still has to make sense, the characters have to act and react consistently.
I’ve recently read a book by a well known author and I while the story kept me reading til the end, it was marred by that one word – Really? I kept finding myself thrown out of the flow by character actions that were not “in character” and behaviors that were idiotic at best. The story was good, but too many Really moments kept it from being great.
I enjoyed this, thank you!
Thanks Judee! Fantasy is one of my favorite genres, so I am with you on not needing stark realism.
Thanks for linking my blog! Great post — totally true. The one thing I strive for in my writing (surprisingly mostly my Science Fiction novel) is making it believable and real.
Thanks! I’m really glad you liked it.
Reblogged this on K. Crumley rambles on… and commented:
A lesson I was taught in grammar school about good fiction being “true to life.” And, had been buried under the knowledge of other things for years…
This blog post from Quill Shiv is an excellent reminder. Really! ~KC
Just re-blogged. An excellent reminder about keeping fiction consistent and true to life.
Thank you K.!
I always learn something at The Quill. Today from A.M. ‘Really?’ Makes me think of Amy and Seth on SNL. Makes me think she is right. When I think about it, I guess that’s how I judge a lot of things, just maybe not consciously. So, ‘really’ will be on my mind next time I join the FF Faction. I now have a new weapon in my Writer’s Toolbox. God, I hate expressions like that, but I had to do it.
Thanks Ted! I’m delighted that someone else finds it useful, too.
Did you get that expression from Stephen King?
Did he say that? No, the expression I don’t like is ‘toolbox’. I also don’t like ‘bring to the table’ and ‘think outside the box’… those kinds of things.
He did use that expression extensively in his book, On Writing. If you haven’t read, or listened to it, it is a good on to peruse. If for just encouragement.
I have heard of the book, and I think my daughter has a copy. I’ve just never liked those kinds of stock phrases.