William K Elliott
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Honesty Is The Best Policy

11/2/2012

3 Comments

 
“No legacy is so rich as honesty.” –William Shakespeare

The writing was going exceedingly well, with the words coming almost faster than I could type them (I am not the world’s greatest typist).  And then came that word. It was a horrible word. It is a horrible word. I don’t exactly have the cleanest of language at times, and yet this particular word had only ever escaped my mouth in the most stressful of times. And even then, only once or twice in my lifetime.

And yet there it was.

I deleted it—retyped it—deleted again.

For a while I just sat, staring at the blinking cursor.

The more I thought about it, the more I didn’t want to use that word. I despise it. I hate it.

The problem was, it was the only word that fit—the only word that my main antagonist would use. So I did what any squeamish author would do, I looked for other opinions.

And in one-way or another, they all said, “use it.” Stephen King, in "On Writing" put it this way, “If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered.”

I still wasn’t thrilled with the idea. How could I be? Remember, I hate that word. Now there is only one other person I know whom I can trust implicitly and, coincidentally, who hates that word as much as I do. She is my most reliable companion, my best friend, and my support system. She is my wife.

She didn’t even hesitate. “Absolutely use it,” she said, “that is exactly the word he would use." And so I did.

And here’s the thing, writing fiction is an act of honesty. You have to tell the truth. I know it might seem odd that I am telling you to tell the truth about a lie of sorts—after all, that’s what fiction is, a lie, a made up story. But the ruthless leader of a violent street gang isn’t going to use the word “lady” or “woman” when he’s demanding a subordinate murder the woman. He’s going to use a vile, degrading, and violent word. And if I fail to type it out simply because I don’t like it, my reader will pull back from the story. They’ll decline to continue their suspension of disbelief, and I’ll loose my credibility.

That’s why the rape scene in Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” is so frightening and violent. It had to be. If he had censored Nils Bjurman’s violence or Lisbeth Salander’s reactions, we as readers would have lost our trust in him.

That’s what fiction writers do, we tell the truth.


3 Comments
Laszlo hopp
11/2/2012 01:31:28 am

Bill,
Very nice essay on a subject that every writer with "gentle manners" will have to face. I used to censor myself by only partially writing out the words that i found offensive but that broke the sense of reality and flow of the story. I settled it for myself this way: by putting words in the mouth of characters doesn't mean i condone rude speach. The content of my whole piece, and not stylistically fitting "unattrative" words, is supposed to reflect where I stand on various issues, including the language i deem appropriate.

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Logan link
4/17/2019 03:23:59 pm

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9/17/2022 04:47:58 pm

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    William K Elliott

    William is a member of that ever-popular group known as “Aspiring Writers,” also known as “unemployed.” He has been dabbling in writing for some twenty or thirty years, and has finally decided to “get down to business.” With inspiration from Steven King’s “On Writing,” and a lot of support from his wife, Kristy, he has been working on his first novel.

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  • Found on my Desk (A Writer's Blog)
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Places I Like to go (Links and Such)
  • TeN by Two