20 Stephen King Quotes on Writing

[BuckyDuckman]

Quotes on Writing (Former 20 Stephen King Quotes on Writing)

I found more quotes from other authors - post the ones you can find from yours!

How many of these matter to you?

Here's the original link where I found these: http://azevedosreviews.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/stephen-kings-20-quotes-on-writing/#comments

and to save you time, here's the list:

1. “Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.”

2. “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. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.”

3. “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”

4. “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

5. “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.”

6. “Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around.”

7. “So okay – there you are in your room with the shade down and the door shut and the plug pulled out of the base of the telephone. You’ve blown up your TV and committed yourself to a thousand words a day, come hell or high water. Now comes the big question: What are you going to write about? And the equally big answer: Anything you damn well want. ”

8. “When asked, “How do you write?” I invariably answer, “One word at a time,” and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time, man. That’s all. One stone at a time. But I’ve read you can see that motherfucker from space without a telescope.”

9. “Running a close second [as a writing lesson] was the realization that stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard, either emotionally or 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.”

10. “You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.”

11. “if you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second-to-least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.”

12. “Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons why you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It’s not just a question of how-to, you see; it’s also a question of how much to. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of writing will help you with the how. You can learn only by doing.”

13. “Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, 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: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”

14. “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.”

15. “I’m a slow reader, but I usually get through seventy or eighty books a year, most fiction. I don’t read in order to study the craft; I read because I like to read”

16. “if you’re just starting out as a writer, you could do worse than strip your television’s electric plug-wire, wrap a spike around it, and then stick it back into the wall. See what blows, and how far. Just an idea.”

17. “kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings”

18. “I have spent a good many years since–too many, I think–being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction or poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that’s all.”

19. “I am always chilled and astonished by the would-be writers who ask me for advice and admit, quite blithely, that they “don’t have time to read.” This is like a guy starting up Mount Everest saying that he didn’t have time to buy any rope or pitons.”

20. “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.”

 

[lovecraft68]

All are very good, but I will remark on a couple.

#5 King needs to reread this one. I have not read his last few, but there was a point where I could not get through three consecutive books he wrote. Insomnia is the best example and the cure for the title.

#11. Dead on IF you want to write for you and let a niche audience find you. If you want to kiss everyone's ass and go for "formula" skip this one.

#19. I'm curious as to where I fit here. I no longer read very much BECAUSE I DO NOT HAVE THE TIME I still work 35 hours a week(cut down from 50 to make more money from home) an internet comic book business, karate classes(take and teach) a dart league, my wife, kids, and of course my writing.

Something had to go. My reading is now limited to short story collections and I read a few pages during lunch at work.

But for a stretch of ten years old to close to 40 I probably read an average of 3 books a week, so maybe this is something you can "store up"

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

All are very good, but I will remark on a couple.

#5 King needs to reread this one. I have not read his last few, but there was a point where I could not get through three consecutive books he wrote. Insomnia is the best example and the cure for the title.

#11. Dead on IF you want to write for you and let a niche audience find you. If you want to kiss everyone's ass and go for "formula" skip this one.

#19. I'm curious as to where I fit here. I no longer read very much BECAUSE I DO NOT HAVE THE TIME I still work 35 hours a week(cut down from 50 to make more money from home) an internet comic book business, karate classes(take and teach) a dart league, my wife, kids, and of course my writing.

Something had to go. My reading is now limited to short story collections and I read a few pages during lunch at work.

But for a stretch of ten years old to close to 40 I probably read an average of 3 books a week, so maybe this is something you can "store up"

The real value of reading good books is what you absorb of the nuts & bolts.

 

[D_Lynn]

Thanks!

Thanks for posting these, along with the link. I'd read his book, "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft" some years back, and have since wanted to go back and find these little tidbits of wisdom that he had in there. I just couldn't bear to go through the whole book again to find them. Stephen King is one long-winded storyteller.

I especially like #11. It's a good reminder. I think I'll post this one on my computer monitor.

 

[glynndah]

I break number 1 constantly, mostly because I know the word I'm searching for, but can't bring it to mind. I'm not trying to find a better word for "said". The rest, especially about reading a lot, I tend to agree with. Of course, I've always been a reader.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

DANSE MACABRE is the better book. Its the gist of a writing course SK taught circa 1978 or so.

Plus King did bazillions of interviews over 40 years, and the interviews are helpful.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

Can't argue with King's success and I'll admit I'm a fan of most of work. Found his list interesting:

1. “Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.”

Except for those times when you KNOW there's a better word, but it just won't come to you. THEN, a thesaurus is a brain savior!

3. “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”

I first read this metaphorically. The more I think about it, the better I like it as a metaphor.

14. “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, reading helps one absorb technique, but I tend to write like whoever I'm reading, so I need to step away from reading sometimes.

17. “kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings”

I really liked this advice and his last piece of advice:

20. “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.”

I would love to see a list of quotes like this culled from Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I think Stephen killed too many of his darlings, as he hasn't written shit in 20 years.

 

[HeyAll]

Those are some fantastic quotes. Especially these two:

1) 10. “You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.”

One of the major things that motivates me to write a lot is the feeling I got from reading other great stories on this website. It's very fulfilling knowing that other people enjoy my work the way I've enjoyed others.


2) 13. “Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, 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: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”

I feel the same.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

Google was nice enough to serve up this advice from Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. - America's best-least read novelist:

With his customary wisdom and wit, Vonnegut put forth 8 basics of what he calls Creative Writing 101: *

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

The greatest American short story writer of my generation was Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964). She broke practically every one of my rules but the first. Great writers tend to do that.

* From the preface to Vonnegut’s short story collection Bagombo Snuff Box


Interesting the similarities between Vonnegut's #6 and King's #17

 

[Meghan32]

excellent

I like this thread - thanks, Bucky!

I just finished reading "Double Feature" by Owen King, Stephen's son. It was impressive for a first novel!

Here's an interview, in case you're interested...
http://www.vulture.com/2013/04/joe-hill-owen-king-interview.html

-Meghan

 

[Saxon_Hart]

I think Stephen killed too many of his darlings, as he hasn't written shit in 20 years.

The last three rushed books in the Dark Tower series attest to that fact. Ever since that van hit him he kinda went loopy. I did like "Everything's Eventual" though.

 

[MSTarot]

6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

Read this one months (hell almost an year now) back. I've used it in a lot of stories, at times with people saying how horribly depressing the story was because so many bad things happened to the characters.

Still it's a very good story hook to have something horrible happen to the main character in the first few paragraphs.

 

[Saxon_Hart]

Read this one months (hell almost an year now) back. I've used it in a lot of stories, at times with people saying how horribly depressing the story was because so many bad things happened to the characters.

Still it's a very good story hook to have something horrible happen to the main character in the first few paragraphs.

One of the things I noticed about Koontz is his protag rarely gets much comfort. Usually from the third paragraph bad shit is happening to them.

 

[TxRad]

My favorite rule is: break the damned rules when they get in the way of the story.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

One of the things I noticed about Koontz is his protag rarely gets much comfort. Usually from the third paragraph bad shit is happening to them.

Did someone say Dean Koontz? Here's seven pieces of his advice:

1. When reading other author's tips on writing, be aware that their writing style may not match your own. If you try to follow someone else's technique, you may be silencing your own, personal creative style. He goes on to say, "Take advice, yes, but think it through thoroughly and be sure it works for you."

2. Koontz says that he really started hitting best-seller lists as soon as he stopped using outlines. He said when he did this his writing became less stiff and less predictable. However, he did note that he knows several successful authors who do outline. Really the point is if you feel constrained by an outline, then trust yourself to write a novel without one.

3. Turn self-doubt into a positive. I think all authors experience this every time they write a novel. For Koontz, he overcomes this by writing each page, editing it until he can't make it any more perfect, and then he let's himself move on to the next page. But find what works for you to give you the confidence you'll need to finish your book.

4. Love the language of writing, including metaphors, similes, and all kinds of figures of speech. Koontz states that a lot of authors today are trained to write simply, using as few words as possible, much like Hemingway wrote. But this worked for Hemingway because his simple words often had layers of meaning behind them, whereas many author's simple writing is meaningless.

5. Write what you are passionate about. Don't research the market to see what's hot because you'll never catch up. Just write what you care about and don't worry about what genre it fits into.

6. Make sure a writer's group works for you. Koontz says to make sure your writer group is only criticizing syntax, grammar, and plot holes, and not your writing style, world views, or personal philosophy. He states: "Your style, your perspective, and your philosophy of life are the main things you have to sell; they are what make you different, and you shouldn't--in fact you can't--change them."

7. Marry a rich spouse. He goes on to say that writers should never give up. It's a tough business, but if you love it, persevere.

As taken from:http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Galleries/koontz-7-bestseller-tips.aspx

Apparently, Koontz will re-write a page a dozen times before moving on. To me, that's crazy!

 

[glynndah]

I just finished listening to one of King's books Lisey's Story in which a real "story pool" is a pivotal part of the story. A departure from what he talks about here.

 

[sr71plt]

I didn't get past #1. Before the advent of the computer, I used a thesaurus occasionally and not because I was trying to find a new word. Because I couldn't remember the precise word I wanted and used the thesaurus to help find it or I couldn't spell it and couldn't find it in the dictionary and I used the thesaurus to help me spelling it correctly. I still do that but a keyword search on the computer is usually faster than pulling out the thesaurus.

But, I didn't agree with #1 so didn't bother looking further.

 

[HeyAll]

Since this thread is expanding to writing tips, here's Anne Rice:

http://www.onemorepage.co.uk/index.php/2013/04/guest-post-writing-tips-by-anne-rice/

1. Write…write and write and write. If you stop, start again. If you feel blocked, write through it until you feel your creative juices flowing again. Write. Writing is what makes a writer, nothing more and nothing less.

2. Ignore critics. Critics are a dime a dozen. Anybody can be a critic. Writers are priceless.

3. Go where the pleasure or pain is in your writing. Write about what hurts. Go back to the memory that causes you conflict and pain and that makes you not able to breath and write about it! Explore it! Go where that feeling is, don’t be afraid of it.

4. Write what excites you: Write the book you would like to read. Write what is interesting to you. Write the book you have been trying to find but have not found. Ask yourself what book would be exciting to you and create it.

5. There are no rules: There are no rules for our profession. Ignore rules. Ignore what I say here if it doesn’t help you. Do it your own way.

6. Don’t throw anything away: Save everything you write. No matter how much you hate it, save everything, it could be useful later.

7. Ignore the myths: One of the great myths about becoming a published writer is that it’s impossible to get in. This isn’t true. I came out of nowhere, I was a no body. My first novel got turned down about 5 times. Eventually it got published and I was off and running. Many people I know got published eventually and they got there their own way.

8. Keep going: No matter how many rejections you get…keep going. There is only one thing that stands between you and realising your dreams as a writer and that’s yourself. You’re the one that’s got to believe in your work.

Every writer knows fear and discouragement. Just write. — The world is crying for new writing. It is crying for fresh and original voices and new characters and new stories. If you won’t write the classics of tomorrow, well, we will not have any. Good luck.

Anne Rice

 

[glynndah]

I didn't get past #1. Before the advent of the computer, I used a thesaurus occasionally and not because I was trying to find a new word. Because I couldn't remember the precise word I wanted and used the thesaurus to help find it or I couldn't spell it and couldn't find it in the dictionary and I used the thesaurus to help me spelling it correctly. I still do that but a keyword search on the computer is usually faster than pulling out the thesaurus.

But, I didn't agree with #1 so didn't bother looking further.

I interpreted that to mean don't look for a fancy word when a plain one will do. No "he expostulated" when "he said" would work just fine.

 

[slyc_willie]

Since this thread is expanding to writing tips, here's Anne Rice:

I could harp on this, seeing as how my regard for Rice is about par with what I think of E.L. James and numerous others . . . but then it occurred to me that, if we on the AH can dispense writing "wisdom," then we can't exactly vilify Anne Rice for doing the same.

 

[sheablue]

I could harp on this, seeing as how my regard for Rice is about par with what I think of E.L. James and numerous others . . . but then it occurred to me that, if we on the AH can dispense writing "wisdom," then we can't exactly vilify Anne Rice for doing the same.

Now, now, Slyc ... you cannot compare Anne Rice with EL James! You may not be a fan of her style or her characters or her stories, but she can actually string words together in a grammatical way that makes sense and is coherent as a narrative. EL James ... not so much.

As for Stephen King ... I am a big fan of his, but his newer books have been ... disappointing. I've been holding on to the last book of the Dark Tower series and haven't read it because 1) once I read it it will be over and 2) I didn't like where the previous one was going and I'm afraid it will be terribly anticlimactic. Does anything beat the first three books of that series, though?

 

[slyc_willie]

Now, now, Slyc ... you cannot compare Anne Rice with EL James! You may not be a fan of her style or her characters or her stories, but she can actually string words together in a grammatical way that makes sense and is coherent as a narrative. EL James ... not so much.

As for Stephen King ... I am a big fan of his, but his newer books have been ... disappointing. I've been holding on to the last book of the Dark Tower series and haven't read it because 1) once I read it it will be over and 2) I didn't like where the previous one was going and I'm afraid it will be terribly anticlimactic. Does anything beat the first three books of that series, though?

My beef with Rice is the same as with James. They took a concept they knew was popular and exploited the hell out of it, without infusing any sort of new passion or prose for it. They just wanted to make money.

*sigh*

Anyway.

 

[sheablue]

Wait, are you talking about vampires? Or the Beauty series? I'd have to respectfully disagree with you on either one ...

 

[slyc_willie]

Wait, are you talking about vampires? Or the Beauty series? I'd have to respectfully disagree with you on either one ...

And that would be fine, of course. I was referring to the whole "hot, young, rich and gorgeous" vampire trope. I can't stand that. But that's just my personal preference. The majority of vampire fiction turns my stomach.