The Power of the Authenticating Detail

In the late John Gardner's The Art of Fiction, he gives us advice that can either liberate or exasperate the writer. "The search for aesthetic absolutes is a misapplication of the writer's energy," he tells us. Instead--and this is much more difficult--"all legitimate questions raised in the reader's mind must be answered, however subtly, inside the work." How's that for a task? To get there, there are "no rules" but lots of techniques, he says. And the writer "must read widely and deeply and must write not just carefully but continually."

In class, we used the language of "authenticating detail" as one the key skills and judgements a writer must possess. What is sitting on the protagonist's desk? What is hanging on the wall? How does he or she respond to a broken relationship or to a death? What is in his or her past? What is his or her mother like? How does he or she act when in anger?

It would be an interesting lens with which to read. In class, we discussed Joyce Carol Oates short story, "ID," by asking why she uses the details she does. It becomes so obvious that there is "method to the madness." I can imagine that if I reread some of my own favorite books--Wendell Berry's Jayber Crow, J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose, or Philip Roth's American Pastoral--in the light of "authenticating details" that I would have a similar experience. The details effective writers choose are not accidents.

As writers, these details must be purposeful, that is to say they must work for us, they must be believable, and they should anticipate and answer the reader's questions. Sometimes, often probably, that means subjecting our work in the hands of good critics, objective ones and not just our mothers and best friends who will undoubtedly praise us for everything we do.

It is not work for the faint of heart, apparently. In my arrogance, I had no idea there was so much to learn about the writing craft, but I am enjoying this season of soaking it all up and soliciting lots of criticism for my own work. As Gardner warns us, writing is more than self-expression.