13 Great Writing Tips From Stephen King
Whether you’re writing a book or you write content for your business, Stephen King has some great writing tips. His book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft is one of my favourite books about writing. It’s not only inspiring to read about Stephen King’s personal writing journey, this book is also packed with practical tips and advice on how to write better. Stephen King’s books may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s no denying he knows a thing or two about the writing process.
ISBN: 9781439156810, pp 291
Here are 13 of my favourite writing tips from Stephen King
1. On coming up with story ideas…
“There is no Idea Dump, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky…Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”
2. On writing the first draft and then rewriting…
This is one of my favourite writing tips from Stephen King. Write the first draft for you – just get everything down and don’t stop to edit. Then when you work on the next draft, make sure you are writing for your audience.
3. On persevering with a story…
“…stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard, either emotionally of imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”
4. On vocabulary…
“One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you’re maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones. This is like dressing up a household pet in evening clothes. The pet is embarrassed and the person who committed this act of premeditated cuteness should be even more embarrassed.”
5. On using adverbs…
“…the road to hell is paved with adverbs…they’re like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day . . . fifty the day after that…”
Note: I am guilty of using and abusing adverbs in my writing. But I enthusiastically agree with this point!
6. On wanting to be a writer….
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
“Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
7. On plotting (or not plotting)…
“… my basic belief about the making of stories is that they pretty much make themselves. The job of the writer is to give them a place to grow…”
8. On description…
“Thin description leaves the reader feeling bewildered and nearsighted. Overdescription buries him or her in details and images. The trick is to find a happy medium.”
“Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.”
9. On finishing the first draft and letting it rest…
“How long you let your book rest—sort of like bread dough between kneadings—is entirely up to you, but I think it should be a minimum of six weeks. During this time your manuscript will be safely shut away in a desk drawer, aging and (one hopes) mellowing.”
10. On rewriting for the Ideal Reader…
“Call that one person you write for your Ideal Reader. He or she is going to be in your writing room all the time: in the flesh once you open the door and let the world back in…in spirit during the sometimes troubling and often exhilarating days of the first draft, when the door is closed.”
11. On rewriting to speed up the pace…
“You need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd draft = 1st draft – 10%.”
“The effect of judicious cutting is immediate and often amazing—literary Viagra. You’ll feel it and your Ideal Reader will, too.”
12. On researching for a novel…
“When you step away from the ‘write what you know’ rule, research becomes inevitable, and it can add a lot to your story. Just don’t end up with the tail wagging the dog: remember that you are writing a novel, not a research paper. The story always comes first.”
13. On writing …
“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.”
This last point sums up how I feel about writing. I do it for the love of words and because it makes me happy.
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