And Mr. King says...

Stephen King is one of my favorite authors. Sure, his stories and novels are page-turning, nail-biting masterpieces -- but I admire his ability to tell a story in such a way that the telling becomes transparent to the reader. King's mastery -- perhaps magic -- of writing is such that one cannot help but get so caught up in the story that he or she forgets that they are reading something. The language ebbs and flows so naturally that the reader sees what is in the author's mind.

King calls this telepathy in his book "On Writing." It's an appropriate description of the process, in my opinion.

A lot of writers, whether fiction or non-fiction, draw attention to the page through awkward prose, unnatural language, poorly chosen words, and unnecessarily detailed description. As an example, King tells us that there is a table draped with a red cloth. On that table is an aquarium-sized cage. Inside of that cage is a white rabbit with a pink nose. The rabbit is gnawing on a carrot held steady by one of its paws. On the rabbit's back, in blue ink, is the numeral 8.

As readers, we all see the image. Each of us will see it slightly differently in the insignificant details, but essentially we are all seeing the same image. We are linked to the author's mind telepathically, as he says, and this connection has been made using only the necessary details.

It is a simple lesson with tremendous significance for a writer, especially a feature writer who must master creative nonfiction in order to excel. It is also some of the best advice I've ever read on writing (and I've read many books on writing).