How to Detach from Our Writing Using Stephen King

 

Introduction

 

Writers must choose between attachment to what they’ve written and detachment. Attachment means we are satisfied with our word choices and stop there. Detachment means we are always looking for better words or phrases to convey our meaning. Stephen King, in his interwoven memoir, part craft book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, lays out his advice to writers. I’ve chosen some of his quotations to show the benefits of detachment over attachment.

 

Reasons for attachment or detachment

 

When we’re alone writing, we usually have a goal, purpose, theme, plot, or audience in mind. We write and write and write, then edit and revise. We can be obstinate or stubborn when it comes to altering the words we’ve written. This may be for valid or not so valid reasons.

   Valid reasons: They say what I am trying to say.

   I understand what the words mean.

   I don’t care what others think.

   I think or feel they are the best words I could have chosen.

   Invalid reasons: Everything else.

 

   Let’s debunk the so-called valid reasons.

   1. The words I’ve used say what I am trying to say.

   That may or may not be the case. It depends on your target audience.

   Do you have a target audience, or is this something you feel or believe? If it is something you feel or believe, then I have no right to tell you to change your words. Just like you have no right to tell me to change my feelings or beliefs. You or I can be closed about this, not wanting to hear or read something that might change our minds, or we can be open to other viewpoints and at least listen.

   I’m not talking here about what is right or wrong, simply the feelings or beliefs themselves. They may be based on three foundations: education and facts, prejudice or ignorance, or experience. I believe education and facts stand strong and firm unless changed by updated education and facts. Ignorance or prejudice is the lack of updated education and facts. Experience can go either way. It is a teacher but can turn out wrong.

   Regardless, assuming the words I’ve used express how I feel or what I think, they are true for me. Does that mean other people understand them the same way I do? As writers, it’s not enough to write what we feel or believe if others are unsure of what it means, or worse, are confused. The goal of every writer and poet is to be understood by the reader, whoever the reader is. That’s why every writer needs to find out their target audience.

   The key to effective writing is clarity. Clarity for the reader, not just you.

 

2. I understand what the words mean.

You may well understand the words because you’ve lived them, or know the definitions, or think a reader should understand them. That doesn’t guarantee a reader will. The only way to be sure is to ask. Writing groups are great for this, or a beta reader. You share your work and receive comments. The comments tell you if your words and meanings are clear or not, or if there are gaps. If you write solo without feedback, you risk not being understood. You won’t know what’s good or bad or should be changed.

   We writers write to be read. If not, then no one cares what we write or how we say it.

   It depends what your goal is. To produce something readers will understand and want more of, or to make a statement and be done with it. Anyone can share their views, which may or may not hold weight. It’s harder to produce a piece or book readers enjoy, praise, want more of, or share with others.

3. I don’t care what others think

Then you may be a writer, but few will appreciate your work, want more, or share what you’ve written. If you ignore others’ views and feelings and merely spout your own, readers will not feel a kinship with you. They will think you only care about yourself and not them. Readers need their feelings and experiences validated and recognized. The lone wolf is left in the forest alone to howl, drawing no response.

4. I think or feel they are the best words I could have chosen.

The English language has over two million words. Do you know all of them?

   Words often have more than one meaning or context, and there are synonyms with slightly different or more distinct meanings. That’s why there are thesauruses and other people, especially other writers, to help find more accurate, more meaningful words. MS Word has a Thesaurus built in. Mark Twain said, “The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter—it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” - Letter to George Bainton, 15 October 1888

   Words are symbols for something abstract or concrete, have context and syntax, and can fire one’s imagination or dull it. Words have the power to change hearts and minds or cause action.

   Let’s talk about readers.

   Every writer should write to the intelligent reader. What does that mean?

   One definition might be that reading is an active dialogue between the author and the reader, and the basic tool for learning in all subjects, entertainment, even enjoyment. To be an effective reader, comprehension is a necessity, because if one understands he or she can then construct judgment. These judgments result from critical reading; it occurs only when comprehension is fully realized. Every normal-functioning human possesses imagination, thought, comprehension, memory, and a common faculty to connect the rational mind to external elements.

   Therefore, words and phrases chosen by the writer to tell a story are critical to a reader’s absorption in it and of it. For example, if reading an Agatha Christie murder mystery, the intelligent reader looks for clues too, because they also want to catch the murderer.

   If a writer cannot detach from their word choices or phrases, they will not change them for better ones. Words are a double-edged sword — they can unite or divide the reader’s attention. The writer must choose. To do that, the writer calls on vocabulary to help state the writer’s thoughts or feelings clearly or tell the story such that the reader is invested.

   In Stephen’s opinion, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.” I agree, and wish I read more, although articles on the Internet keep me busy. Both reading and writing increase vocabulary for sure.

   He also wrote, “Words create sentences; sentences create paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe.” They come to life, what we want as writers, and that is not always easy to do. That’s why writing is really editing.

   And, “Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.”

Often what is not said on the page is just as powerful as what’s there. Since we know our reader is intelligent, we know they can fill in all the things we want them to. Understanding imagination is key to writing good stories.

 

How Do We Become Detached?

 

Stephen King, one of the most successful authors in the world, has also advised writers to: “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”

   The reality is this: words may mean something to you but mean nothing to anyone else unless they are shared. We all need a beta reader at least, and Stephen’s is his wife, Tabitha. To be an excellent writer you must consider your reader and audience. That doesn’t mean you have to lie or hide the truth as you know it. It means you give that truth in a way that the reader can accept it or be willing to consider it. Like Stephen’s novels, the worlds he constructs and his characters are believable.

   Stephen: “In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it ‘got boring,’ the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling.”

   He also wrote, “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”

   And “The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.” That means our own or our character’s.

   When writing, our uppermost thought should be, “Does this move the story forward?” If it doesn’t, it should be omitted. To Stephen’s points above, I agree,

   Following these basic rules and others, we become detached and can look at our story objectively with the reader’s, not ours, eyes.

 

What Happens When We Use the Right Words?

Again, Stephen has advised, “Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well.”

   If we write to keep the reader engaged, or to sway them, or to affect how they view a thing or even life itself, or leave an impression, and our writing does that, then our purpose is achieved. If we also raise a call to action and the reader responds, we have succeeded. If we make money too, we feed our family.

   Closing with Stephen’s words, always focusing on vocabulary and word choice to determine the effectiveness of any piece of writing, he writes:

   “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others:

read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”

   He also wrote what writers strive for: “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”  That “magic” is grabbing the reader’s attention and their imagination, for no matter how well we craft words into images, they will never be as concrete as a reader’s heart and mind.