Stephen King is one of the best storytellers in the world. He has written some of the biggest blockbusters including The Green Mile, The Mist, The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption, Cujo, It, the list goes on. His memoir, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft is one of the best books on writing you will find. The book is partly about his life and partly on the technicalities of writing. It should be required reading for anyone looking to be a writer.
These notes will take you through both parts. Skip to the section on his advice for writers to get to the technicalities
Early Life
King grew up poor. When he was two, his father went out to buy a pack of cigarettes and never returned, leaving his mother to raise two boys on her own. She raised the kids while taking care of her old parents. Money was hard to come by and the TV set came pretty late to his house, which turned out good for King since this pushed him to books. He read a lot and later started writing stories on what he liked — sci-fi and horror.
His first best-seller was a novel version of ‘The Pit & the Pendulum’. He published a few copies and sold them in school for 25 cents a pop (while breaking every copyright law in history). By 14, he was writing stories and sending them to publishers, he was also getting tons of rejection slips. King kept at it, and by 16, he was still getting tons of rejection slips, though some of them now started coming with notes for improvement.
In school, he was selected to write the sports column for the college newspaper. He wrote an article and submitted it. John Gould, an editor edited his story and that taught King one of the most important lessons on writing.
Write a story → Tell the story how you want it.
Re-write the story → Remove everything that is not the story.
The edited copy was clean. It removed excess and left only the good parts.
Read more here — Everything you need to know about writing in 10 minutes
Where did he get his ideas?
Most people think there is some magic formula or process by which you can generate path breaking ideas out of thin air. Sorry to burst your bubble kiddo but that’s not how it works.
You don’t find ideas, you let the ideas find you. Your job is simply to recognize them when they come to you.
King loved watching horror films, he watched them every weekend and this formed the base of many of his future ideas. He got his idea for Carrie, his first blockbuster, from a memory of the girl’s shower room he had seen in school. He then mixed the idea with some reported poltergeist activity he had read about and bam! He had his idea.
Don’t worry about the idea, it will come to you. Recognize it when it does.
Did he write full time before making it big?
Nope. He worked multiple jobs to support his family before he made it big. After 4 years of college, he was unable to land a teaching job so he took up a low-paying job at an industrial laundry plant. But he never stopped writing. By the early 70’s he had sold stories to up and coming Men’s magazines. Earned some money but nothing significant.
When he started writing ‘Carrie’, he took up a teaching job while living in Harmon (which he calls the asshole of the world). He actually threw the initial 3 page manuscript for Carrie in this trash because he wasn’t happy with it. His wife dug it out and pushed him to go for it. He did and it was picked up Doubleday publishing which paid him $2500 advance, not enough to leave his job but enough to move out of the trailer.
Two years later the paperback rights were sold for $400,000 and half of it belonged to Stephen King.
Handling Success
King didn’t handle it so well. By 1975, it was the Hemingway Defense for drinking so much. By 1985, he had added cocaine, Xanax and more to the lurid concoction of psychedelics. King knew he had to stop, but he couldn’t. That did not stop him from churning out hits.
King was so far gone at times that he barely remembers writing Cujo.
Ultimately, his family intervened. King decided to get clean. It wasn’t easy, and writing sure wasn’t a breeze after getting sober. He felt like the proverbial reformed, lost-musician trying to find his bearings in a post-coke world. Over time though, he became fine and started writing again, this time sober.
A year or two later, King got rid of the monstrous writing table kept in the centre of the study room where he had spent the last six years of his life either drunk or wrecked out of his mind. He got a new one, half the size of the old T-rex and placed it in a corner of the room.
It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support-system for ar. It’s the other way around.
That was about the man behind the writing. Now it’s time to write. So get up, turn off your phone, close the door, sit down and Listen Up.
On Writing
Writing is an art, but it is a technical art. That means you can learn it. That does not however mean that you can become great at it. Kings says if you’re a competent writer, then with tireless dedication and deliberate practice you might someday become a good writer, But if you’re a bad writer, becoming a merely competent writer is a tough ask. Want to get from good to great? King says fuggedaboutit. Only the truly blessed among us can ever be great at writing, for the rest of us, good is as good as it gets.
(I don’t agree with King on this, then again he’s a multi-million dollar author who’s been writing for over 40 years and I’m just getting started, so it’s possible I might be wrong)
How do you get started on improving your skills and moving from competent → good ?
The Toolbox
Like a mechanic, the writer also has a toolbox. The top layer of the toolbox has your core items
- Vocab — Don’t complicate things. Use the first word that comes to mind.
- Grammar — If you’ve passed high school, you’re good to go. Revise it once.
- Verbs — Use Active voice!
Eg — Rick took the gun and shot Carl in the head v/s The gun was taken by Rick and Carl was shot in the head by Rick. - Adverbs — They are not your friends. Avoid whenever possible.
Why do people use them anyways? Because they’re afraid that the reader will not understand if they don’t make it clear.
Eg : “I’m exhausted, please take me to bed”, she said v/s
“I’m exhausted, please take to bed”, she whimpered tiredly.
Avoid the adverb.
Elements of Style
Fiction is a magical world that the reader escapes into, and this magical world is created using simple tools. They are
- Sentences
- Paragraphs
Read the Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr
5 tips to get you started
To journey onwards to become a good writer follow these 5 tips by King
#1 — Read a lot, write a lot: (Always be Reading) Always have a book. Always. (buy a Kindle). King takes a book and a pencil wherever he goes. You never know how long the line is going to be at the dentist.
#2 — Create a Schedule: Some authors limit themselves by the amount of time they spend writing each day, like Anthony Trollope, who used to write 2.5 hours daily and not a minute more. King likes to writes a minimum 10 pages / 2000 words, however long it takes to hit that number. Regardless of the self-decided limiting condition, most great authors have some sort of schedule. Create your own writing schedule and stick to it.
#3 — Environment: Your environment determines how much you write and how peacefully you write. Keep the place clean, no cellphones, maintain enough control to stop people from disturbing you and take care of your health. It’s no good having an idea gnawing at you to come out but you can’t get out of bed because of a splitting headache.
$4 — Set a goal & No Distractions: Refer #3 on how to avoid distractions.
#5 — Treat it like a Job: Be there at the same place, same time. Every. Single. Day. Be there and write even if you’re stuck and don’t see any hope. Be there and sooner or later, your muse will show up and show you the way.
#6 — (Bonus tip) Come to the page any way but lightly: Come to it angry, come to it frustrated, come to it ecstatic but please don’t ever come to it lightly.
Diving deeper into the Details
How does King write his stories? How does he create characters?
The Story
Any good story has 3 key components
- Narration
- Description
- Dialogue
You’re probably wondering where is the plot? There isn’t. King doesn’t write his novels with a well thought out plot from the start. Instead he creates interesting characters, puts them in some place and sees them work their way out. He does not MANIPULATE them, he tries to see their next move and watches the characters figure their way out of the situation.
Description
Two things to understand
- How to describe? By writing
- How much to describe? By Reading
Eg — He entered GE1. The thin smell of alcohol and smoky air hit him first. Then he saw it. Piles of a pungent mix of puke, alcohol and pizza strewn across the floor. Pizza Hut boxes stacked against the wall and bottles of Bira thrown all around the room. He walked slowly to avoid the sticky floor. After reaching the end, he climbed up the messy, wooden desk and carefully removed the Reos bulb and tiptoed silently back into the night.
Unless the above para is essential to the story, some details can be removed to maintain the pace of the story.
Dialogue
The most important thing in dialogue is to be truthful. You have created a character and the character will have a certain style, certain quirks. Stay true to the character, even if it means writing foul-mouthed, morally corrupt dialogue. If your character is a slum-lord raised in the dark alleys of Kamathipura, then so be it. Stay true to his character.
At times this will mean facing criticism from people. Did he just write that? How could he write that? Ignore the critics. Make the reader understand your character’s style and stay true to him/her with the dialogue.
For Eg: Two college boys talking amongst themselves.
Jason : Hot damnn! Yo Chris, did you check you the gonzas on Angela in gym class today? I mean aahh fuck, the things I’d do to her man….aarggghhh!
v/s
Jason : How lovely! Excuse me Chris, did you happen to notice how fit Angela has become. I saw her in gym class today and I must say, she stirred my loins!
You get the point. Write the dialogues your characters will speak.
Building Characters
You build characters by observing the people around you. Then you write the truth about them. That’s it.
You’d be surprised to find that the jolly uncle who’s always playing with the kids is nursing a terrible tragedy or that your friend who picks his nose hasn’t showered in a week. You will find all the characters you need for your plot if you observe your life for a few days and write what you see.
How much should you describe the characters? Enough to understand them, but not more.
Eg: His gaunt face bore a hollow expression, but his ginger brown mop of hair was a hit with the ladies.
v/s
He had a thin face, with a long bony jaw and goatee beard. His blue eyes pierced those who dared look him in the eye. His oversized ears made him look funny. The freckles on his forehead were covered by his ginger brown mop of shaggy hair.
The first one tells you all you need to know, whereas the second one is overkill.
The Method to write a book
King follows a process. You may not like it, but he doesn’t give a fuck.
- Write the 1st draft (Door closed. Only you see what is written. This is not the time for feedback. That will come later)
- Open the drawer, put the 1st draft inside and forget about it (for 6 weeks).
- Start a new project, get involved with it! Let your mind wander away from the previous one.
- After time has passed, go back to the old draft and read it again.
- Write the second draft (Door open — Take feedback)
When you read the draft it will be a strange feeling. You will remember parts, know it was written by you, but it will still feel like it was written by someone else, almost like uncovering an old, forgotten relic.
WHY DO THIS?
This will help you stay objective and read through any glaring plotholes. You will be able to see the character development problems. Give this draft to the people you trust, whose opinions you value. Take their feedback. If most of them tell you the same thing, go back and fix it in the 2nd draft. If everyone tell you something different on what is wrong, you can ignore everyone’s advice and do what you think is right.
What about Symbolism or a theme?
For your 1st draft, write your story. Don’t concern yourself with thoughts of a theme or symbolic meaning. Read it again (after uncovering the fossil). Figure out if there is a common theme linking the threads together. If you find something, edit it accordingly else let it be. Not every story will have some grand overarching theme or symbolism.
If it works, keep it, if it doesn’t, use the DELETE key
Who do I write for?
You write for your Ideal Reader. Who is your ideal reader? I don’t know. For Stephen King, it’s his wife Tabby. Every writer will have his/her own ideal reader. The Ideal Reader is someone who you use as a reference to see what is boring or funny or so on. For example on a funny scene King will write keeping in mind how Tabby will react to reading it. He then gives her the draft and observes as she’s reading, noting down the points of reaction & non-reaction. Does she laugh at the right time? If yes, he was successful, else back to writing.
You have to find your ideal reader, the person who you think will react a certain way while reading your writing. Write for that person and forget about the rest. Observe them after giving them your material and fine-tune your writing accordingly.
Ordering & Backstory
Every character has some backstory. Most of it is not very good. Take the good parts, omit the rest. Readers are more interested in what is going to happen to the character than in what has already happened to him.
In terms of ordering, King is a straight A-to-Z man he likes to know what is going to happen to his characters instead of what has already happened. Depending on your style you might want to experiment with ordering.
Conclusion
This is one of the best books on writing and with good reason. It covers all the minutiae of writing good fiction and it does so in a crisp manner that is easily comprehensible. If you want to be a writer, there are few books better than this one to learn about the craft. Go ahead and buy one and write the book you’ve always wanted to write.
The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that things only get better.
Buy here On Writing by Stephen King (Amazon.in)
If you made it this far, you probably have some thoughts on this. Comment in the box below!
Atman is a 25-year old MBA student who reads books and writes notes. Follow him on Goodreads www.goodreads.com/atmanpandya
