Key Tips From Stephen King's On Writing ( Fiction)

 

Key Tips From Stephan King's On Writing A Memoir of the Craft (Fiction)  

     I love peaceful early mornings on the weekend; it's just my MacBook, a lifeless page on the screen, a toasty cup of tea, and me. My brain is exploding with ideas to write about and the moment I urge my fingers to type my head goes blank. Writing can be a euphoric escape to jot down thoughts, stories, and opinions. Some people are natural Shakespeares and immediately take to writing out their innermost ideas while being creative. But most of us are not so naturally skilled in the mind-dump-on-paper gift. Some of us have trouble writing out our plots or describing characters or scenes. If this sounds like you then keep listening! Most writing that we do in our free time is usually fiction, the work of great expressive imagination. Fiction can be a hard genre to write, it must be compelling and make the reader feel like they are present in the story and relate to the character. As a free-time fiction writer, I find myself looking back on one of my favorite books as a guide to help me bring a lifeless page to a thriving descriptive story, and I would love to share some of this advice with you that has helped me. About three years ago, I stumbled upon the book Stephen King On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, and King's advice has changed my approach and perspective on writing. Here are the key tips from King that will change your fiction writing world! 

Tip One: Good Ideas Are Random 

King expresses that good ideas come, "sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun." Meaning stop searching for ideas on the web or asking around for crazy stories. The greatest story ideas come from the random chambers of your brain. King goes on to say, " Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up." I know it may be hard to realize that some of your weirdest and unnecessary thoughts might be the next IT, or Romeo and Juliet in that same moment that you thought of them, but if you jot down some of your thoughts and elaborate on them or make up a character to them, then who knows, maybe it could lead to an amazing, fresh idea.  

Tip Two: Be Prepared for The Shame 

This isn't really a tip but more of a warning from King, he explains that not everyone is going to be as enthusiastic and supportive of your writing passion. He wrote, "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 dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that's all." This reminded me of a personal experience I had with my grandfather, bless him, he told me that I shouldn't major in writing because trying to be a writer is like trying to get into the NFL. I haven't completely given up on my writing, I still do it during my free time, but I think everyone reading this has had a similar encounter. Having said that, if you know you can put in the effort and time then don't let the pessimistic comments phase you.  

Tip Three: Writing is for You and Rewriting is for Everyone 

When King was still in high school, his school urged him to write as a sports reporter for John Gould, editor of Lisbon's weekly newspaper. Gould gave King some advice that the horror fiction writer shares with us. Gould advised King, "' 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.'" So, when you're alone writing, try not to think of the people who will read it, think of your story as if it is only for your eyes to read. Remember it's only you and the page. For rewriting, think of what is important to the story and what is not. Think, can the reader go on living without knowing this, is it relevant to the plot, the character, or the setting? I know this tip helps me with eliminating extra details that don't help my stories. King also elaborates more on what Gould advised him, the text includes, "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." The door closed enables you to be alone and quietly closed off allowing you to hear your voice in your head telling yourself how the story should go, but having the door open allows the outer noises of the world to remind you that rewriting is all about the world and how they will perceive your story. 

Tip Four: Have Some Faithful Support 

I know this tip kind of contradicts tip two, but it is still relevant and true to a writer's life. King states that a writer's life, is lonely and that having at least one person who will support you is key to your mental health. He includes, " Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference. They don't have to make speeches. Just believing is usually enough." It may be hard to find that someone, especially if it's your family who doesn't believe in your eagerness for writing, but that's why there is The Writers Guild, English teachers, and friends. We also live in a digital world, maybe find some pals around the world with the same stories, find an organization that is all about writing online. Just remember you're not alone in your failures and triumphs, branch out your connections with people of the same passion.  

Tip Five: Keep Writing Even If You Don't Understand It Yourself 

When King was writing Carrie, he felt like he stepped on another planet. Girl world wasn't his specialty and he almost gave up on the story. But, his wife actually helped him with the female perspective of the Carrie White character. Thus, King advises that as a writer we just can't easily quit a story just because we don't understand what we are trying to get at, or if we feel a little bit disconnected. King includes, " The most important is that the writer's original perception of a character or characters may be as erroneous as the reader's- " and, " 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."  Giving up is the easy thing to do, you could miss out on writing the next Carrie, or the next Gone With The Wind, that's why it's key to keep on writing. And if you don't understand something, do some research and ask around. Get different perspectives on your characters or storyline. Whatever you do, don't give up on your creation. 

Tip Six: Think of Writing as an Expression 

King explains that many of his works of writing reflected his addiction to alcohol. He expressed his feelings and experiences through his stories. Like The Shining, and Misery were both expressions of his feelings when he was at a low point in his life. Now, I'm not advising you to get addicted to some drug and express yourself. What King and I are advising is to write with expression. What are you trying to express? Is there something in your personal life you are going through? Something you witnessed?  

Tip Seven: Writing is Telepathy 

King explains how writing is like Telepathy because you use descriptive writing to allow the reader to imagine what you are imagining. Being as descriptive as you can with your words, King includes this descriptive image, " -here's a table covered with a red cloth. On it is a cage the size of a small fish aquarium. In the cage is a white rabbit with a pink nose and pink-rimmed eyes. In its front paws is a carrot- stub upon which it is contentedly munching. On its back, clearly marked in blue ink, is the numeral 8. Do we see the same thing" It's pretty genius of him if you think about it, writing truly is like telepathy- it is the only time two strangers at different times can share the same thoughts and images simultaneously. The descriptive writing allows this image to come to life in the reader's mind!  

Tip Eight: Don't come Lightly to the Page 

What King means by this, is that when you write, write with emotion with drive. Your current feelings matter when you write in fiction. Readers can relate to emotions, so write when you are angry, depressed, overjoyed, or inspired. But, never write without passion. King expresses, " You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair-," and, "Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page."  

Tip Nine: Toolbox Method  

This is one of the most key tips in his book, it will probably need its own post. But to summarize, King learned that writing means you need to build on all aspects like - vocabulary, descriptive words, diction, similes, metaphors, grammar, etc. He claims that your toolbox is always growing, as a writer you are always learning new ways to be creative. So, it's always key to keep an open mind.  King includes, " I want to suggest that to write to your best abilities, it behooves you to construct your own toolbox and then build up enough muscle so you can carry it with you. Then, instead of looking at a hard job and getting discouraged, you perhaps seize the correct tool and get immediately to work." Writing is a learning process and you're not always gonna sound perfect or correct, so it's best to strengthen your mental toolbox! 

The rest of the tips are about strengthening and adding to your mental toolbox. This will definitely need its own post. If you like this one enough, then I will make Stephen King's Toolbox Method available. Or you can check his book out! It's honestly great, your copy will be filled with marks and notes for yourself. Now I am gonna take my own and King's advice and work on my own stories. Happy Writing Everyone!