More advice from Stephen King
Writing pointers from the king of horror
In my two previous articles on Stephen King’s advice for writers, I’ve written about the process of writing, the psychology of writing, the writer’s toolbox, the importance of reading as much as possible, and a few of King’s stylistic pointers. Links to those articles can be found below.
This article looks at King’s thoughts on where story ideas come from, and the writer’s schedule.
Where do ideas come from?
Any writer who has had as much of an impact on the culture as Stephen King is going to be asked where he gets his ideas. King has been asked that question several times and answers it in his book ‘On Writing, A Memoir of the craft.’
The first thing King says is that there is no magical muse who comes and gives you inspiration. To generate good ideas, you have to first collect as many ideas as you can from other writers. This comes down to one of the writer’s main tasks; reading. The more you read, the better you will be able to write.
If you’re a writer of horror, you can get your ideas from horror movies as well. In high school, Stephen King wrote a book based on a horror movie he’d seen. He went home and produced several copies of that story on this brother Dave’s drum press, before taking them to school and selling them to fellow students. The story proved popular, and King calls it his first ‘bestseller,’
Songs might also inspire stories, as might artwork. In turn, there are plenty of songs that have been inspired by stories. Art feeds off of itself.
King writes that original story ideas come when two previously disparate ideas are combined. For example, you might write about lawyers (that’s been done), and aliens (that’s been done), in a story about lawyers in outer space (I don’t think that’s been done yet).
Mimicry is another way to generate stories. Take an old story and try to put a new spin on it. King has written over 60 books and still goes back to those he read as a teenager for inspiration.
Getting back to the muse, whilst writers don’t have one, King suggests you may be able to cultivate one. That is done by working diligently. Create a place where you go to write, and go there often. The more time you spend there the more likely that the muse might show up.
The writer’s schedule
Stephen King writes two thousand words a day, every day. That’s about ten pages. He starts early in the morning and on a good day he is done by the early afternoon, but if he isn’t done by the afternoon, he keeps going until he is. Writing takes commitment. The more you write, the better you’ll get, and if you want to make a living out of it, take it seriously.
Writing for a few hours on a good day hardly constitutes a full-time job. What do you think King does when he is not writing? He reads. Seventy to eighty books a year, even though he’s a self-confessed slow reader.
For any budding writer, King recommends 4–6 hours of reading and writing per day. If you can’t manage that much, go for 2 hours a day. Most people will spend that long on social media, or watching the television. For Stephen King, reading is like breathing in, and writing is like breathing out.
He is puzzled by writers who only produce a few novels. If you have a God-given talent he says, you should use it.
The time to be a writer is already available, you just have to use it.
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