Notes from Stephen King’s “On Writing” 01: Selections from the First Half
The first half of King’s book is autobiographical. His childhood was very interesting to read about. Of course, even from a young age his mind revolved around writing. While the latter half of the book is where King shows us his toolbox of writing and how he practices the craft, there were still some gems of advice and inspiration to be found within the former half, which I will quote here.
Pg. 29, in regards to story ideas:
“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.”
Pg. 46, on his feelings when a high school teacher found one of his sci-fi short stories he was circulating about the school and asked him whey he’d “write junk like this in the first place” when he was so talented. Why would he waste his abilities like this?
“I had no answer to give. 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 dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that’s all.”
☝ This really meant a lot to me. I started writing when I was in the second grade, and it wasn’t until I was in high school that I found an adult who encouraged me. My parents told me it was a waste of time, I’d be poor my whole life, that what I wrote was “weird.” Of course it was all garbage back then. I was in elementary school. To this day, as much as I love writing, I am too scared to share anything I write with anyone in my family. Maybe someday I can get over that.
Pg. 65, on striking a balance between being “artsy” and “meaningful”
“Good writing can be simultaneously intoxicating and idea-driven. … Why shouldn’t writers be able to go bonkers and still stay sane?”
Pg. 66, his wife Tabitha explaining the meaning behind one of her poems:
“…Mankind [has a] troubling and wonderful habit of dreaming the right dreams at the wrong times.”
Pg. 77, regarding his wife’s constant support:
“Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference.”
Pg. 82, what he learned from writing Carrie:
“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 to do is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”
Pg. 117, a caution to would-be writers:
“You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair–the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. you can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page. … If you can take it seriously, we can do business. If you can’t or won’t, it’s time for you close this book and do something else.”
In my next post I’ll get into his knowledge and advice on writing.
Source: King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Hodder, 2012.
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