Stephen King's On Writing

[sophia jane]

I know alot of you have already read this book, but I've only just gotten on the bandwagon. As I read it, I'm finding passages I MUST share because they really strike a chord with me, and what better place to share? So I'm going to type up a few. Feel free to add your own or discuss or ignore me altogether.

 

[sophia jane]

"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."

(p 37)

 

[sophia jane]

"I was ashamed. 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 and 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 sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that's all. I'm not editorializing, just trying to give you the facts as I see them."
and then
"But in my heart I stayed ashamed. I kept hearing Miss Hisler asking why I wanted to waste my talent, why I wanted to waste my time, why I wanted to write junk."


p. 50

 

[carsonshepherd]

" I kept hearing Miss Hisler asking why I wanted to waste my talent, why I wanted to waste my time, why I wanted to write junk."


p. 50

A: Because I like trash, bitch!

 

[sophia jane]

A: Because I like trash, bitch!

I figured most of us could relate to that little tidbit. Being trash writers ourselves.

 

[sophia jane]

"'When you write a story, you're telling yourself the story,' he said. 'When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.'"

Personally, I think that's a helluva good summarization of the editing/rewriting process.

He goes on, "Gould said something else that was interesting on the day I turned in my first two pieces: write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. Your stuff starts out being just for you, in other words, but then it goes out. Once you know what the story is and get it right- as right as you can, anyway- it belongs to anyone who wants to read it. Or criticize it."

p 57

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

This is probably a paraphrase, but it is a truth that should be universally acknowledged by all who strive to write fiction.

"Adverbs are not a writer's friend."

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Aurora Black]

This is probably a paraphrase, but it is a truth that should be universally acknowledged by all who strive to write fiction.

"Adverbs are not a writer's friend."

Rumple Foreskin

"The road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I'll shout it from the rooftops."

 

[Selena_Kitt]

This is probably a paraphrase, but it is a truth that should be universally acknowledged by all who strive to write fiction.

"Adverbs are not a writer's friend."

Rumple Foreskin

indubitably

 

[Nirvanadragones]

"I was ashamed. 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 and 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 sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that's all. I'm not editorializing, just trying to give you the facts as I see them."
and then
"But in my heart I stayed ashamed. I kept hearing Miss Hisler asking why I wanted to waste my talent, why I wanted to waste my time, why I wanted to write junk."


p. 50

I carry that quote around with me in my laptop bag and take it out to read every so often. Thank you for reminding me

 

[kendo1]

truthfully

 

[Liar]

This is probably a paraphrase, but it is a truth that should be universally acknowledged by all who strive to write fiction.

"Adverbs are not a writer's friend."

You mean, like 'universally'?

All words are a writer's best friends. Get to know your friends, and you'll know what their good and bad sides are.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

You mean, like 'universally'?

Precisely, indubitably. and truthfully.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Aurora Black]

You people are insane. Adverb hell awaits.

 

[sophia jane]

"But none of them taught me the things I learned from Carrie White. The most important is that the writer's original perception of a character or characters may be as erroneous as the reader's. Running a close second 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."

pp77-78

 

[Aurora Black]

Yeppers. The book has tons of LMAO moments, have you noticed that?

 

[sophia jane]

"put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around."

p 101

 

[Aurora Black]

"put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around."

p 101

Crap! Mine's in the middle of the room.

 

[ThornDaddy]

I love this book

It's pretty much the only writing book worth reading (except the one I wrote.)

My favorite parts from King's book though, aren't even about writing. Like the story of how when his family did an intervention to get him off of drugs, he said it was as if he were on the roof of a burning building, someone lowered a rope ladder and he said, "Let me think about it for two weeks!"

 

[Liar]

Crap! Mine's in the middle of the room.

My room don't have a middle.

 

[McKenna]

Glad you're enjoying the read, SJ. I actually had this book assigned as a "textbook" at university. Twice.

 

[cantdog]

I relate to this book. King is at his best here. The old bastid is like a lot of imaginative people: when you almost fuckin die it makes you think, don't it? We are all lucky to have this testimony. Any prospective writer can benefit from On Writing. I rejoice to see you've caught on, you guys.

 

[ThornDaddy]

It's named after (sort of) a Hemingway book

called
"Ernest Hemingway on Writing"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684854295/


The book isn't by Hemingway, it's excepts of things Hemingway wrote about writing, put together by editor Larry W. Phillips.

 

[siren319]

I idolized King when I was first starting to write. I met him at a basketball game in Winslow Maine. Talk about an average guy. His tales weave together so perfectly though, I was ecstatic when he finally came out with a book on writing. I found it so helpful. I finally understood editing as well. I like the section at the end where it actually shows the process of editing. It made it easier to look at what I had created with critical eyes and see all the fluff I could set aside to streamline the story.

 

[cantdog]

Yeah. If you take nothing else from the book, listen to him about rewrite and editing. Damn.