#1 WRITE WITH THE DOOR CLOSED. REWRITE WITH DOOR OPEN.
Typically,
the aim of initial freewriting process is to get the idea/story down on the
paper (or document). Mr. King writes, that ideally this process should be
carried out by blocking out the world, which represents the part of us which is
responsible for critiquing or rationalizing things, name it intellect.
Bringing in
the voice of logic and intellect too early and too soon in our writing, carries
with it the tendency to spoil the fruit of the story. A story, after all, is
something which originates from the illogical and fictional field of our mind.
It needs its own period of incubation to become ripened enough. The structure
is required, but only at the right time.
Once the
stream of words has been set free to flow in whatever direction the story may
opt, it is only then that the voice of the critic should be enabled to pop in,
and reveal to us the cracks, the loopholes & the loosehinges that may have
been left in the imaginary world we’ve chosen to create and write about.
Mr. King
writes that someone once said to him, this...
#2 KILL YOUR DARLINGS
Editing a
piece of writing you have dedicated hours, perhaps weeks or months to write, is
not only difficult but a knuckle-knocking process. At the same time, every
writing or story is collapsible to some extent. The first draft, atleast.
If I am too
partial towards chopping off my elaborate-but-unessential descriptions or too
concerned about spading away the adverbs, the story carries the risk of losing
its essence. The perfume’s fragrance may not be lost but it surely would have a
diminishing effect on its original scent.
Mr. King
writes,
#3 IMITATION PRECEDS CREATION
Stylistic
imitation is the key! He writes.
In his
memoir, Mr. King describes how imitation paved way for the origins of his
writing. As a child and a budding writer, he would copy comics and short
stories word by word, changing them a little and blending these into his own
style.
He writes
that when he would read Bradbury, his writing would emanate Bradbury’s style - smelling of golden nostalgia.
When he would read James Cain, his writing would reflect Cain’s style, and when
he’d imitate Lovecraft, his writing would become luxurious and Byzantine. At
the same time, he also mentions that one cannot imitate too much. Ultimately, a
writer has to dig deep and discover their own style. Stylistic imitation is the
key to unlock the door of this discovery though.
#4 WRITING IDEAS CAN COME FROM
ANYWHERE & NOWHERE!
When asked
where he gets ideas for his writing, Mr. King answers by saying that good ideas
come from nowhere and anywhere. He goes on to say that we don’t need to
consciously find ideas, but rather train our mind to recognize them when a good one shows up.
#5 READ A LOT. IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE MAGIC OF BOOKS!
Books are those spaceships and steering crafts that enable us to travel the worlds, real and imaginary, without actually having to move a step.
And for someone who is a writer, books do more than just entertain or educate or enlighten. These semi-thick flippy paperbounds also teach us how to tell stories, how to write our own books, too. In fact, Mr. King says that there is no alternative to reading. We learn the craft of writing best from reading the works of other writers...
Moving ahead, he also shares how many books
he usually reads through the course of an year; and how he reads them…
Mr. King
elaborates that constant reading can help us program our mind for constant
writing practice, which is good…
There is no
alternative to reading, though there is a portable way if you don’t want to
carry too many heavy paperbacks wherever you go. Audiobooks!
Another
aspect of reading is an appropriate and a quiet spot…
And to say the least,…
#6 INFINITE POSSIBILITIES ARE
THERE TO EXPLORE IN THE ADVENTURE OF WRITING!
Employing the
metaphor of a building for the mind, Mr. King writes that there are more doors
here, than one can possibly open in a lifetime. Saying which, there is a
flumbering immensity of possibilities that we have access to, in writing (plus
in other arts too, I guess).
#7 YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO DO IT
UNLESS IT HAS BEEN DONE TO YOU FIRST
One cannot
expect to magically develop the ability to weave a spider’s web unless one has
experienced getting trapped in one. And even if one does, the web of the story
won’t be immersive enough to grip the reader’s attention good enough.
Mr. King
writes…
#8 PRIORITIZE READING ABOVE
WATCHING TELEVISION
When it
comes to good movies and shows, television is certainly a wonderful tool for
the storytelling aspect of the writing process. However, Mr. King suggests
writers to prioritize it not above reading, especially talking about news
channels and other tidbits which are not seemingly useful for one’s mind.
#9 STORYTELLING IS TRUTH-TELLING
In the
book, Mr. King writes that storytelling
is about truth-telling. And as they say, truth is a tricky paradox,
swinging between honesty and lies.
He says,
though honesty and lies both are equally important skills to learn in
storytelling, each side of the coin has its own correct place.
A writer
should learn when to use which tool for composing a good-quality prose.
And in the
end, he writes, don’t write to impress but to express. It may be hard for the
beginners to digest this, however, if one thinks about it, a writer cannot
really compromise on this one.
#10 GET USED TO REJECTION & HUMILIATION
When it
comes to facing rejection, there is no alternative, neither does exception. Mr.
King suggests young writers to keep writing despite the rejections they tend to
receive especially during the initial phases of their writing.
He also
writes about his own teenage years when he started writing stories, and his
desk was full of rejection slips that he’d got from submitting his work.
Sharing
another perspective on rejection, he writes that magazines (and publishers) are
much more prone to returning one’s work with a rejection note, when one is a
nobody. When one is famous, one gets to have more of it, more and more. But
when one needs it the most, it is only when we’re faced with the challenge of
facing rejection. However, this doesn’t have to be the cause of giving up.
Expressing
this, he writes...
Another
interesting lesson that he writes about rejection, is this. Rejection doesn’t
only come from magazines or publishers, but also from people, mostly the ones
we are related to. Mr. King writes how one of his teachers criticized him for
writing stories, telling him that he was wasting his life.
#11 LIFE ISN’T A SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR WRITING.
Describing
his initial journey towards being the top-spot writer that he is today, Mr.
King writes that this period of his life was filled with darkness and despair.
He also
writes that during this period of isolation, failure and despair, one must hold
on to one’s loved ones.
While he
was going through this period of his writing journey, for him there was his
wife Tabitha King, who became his support system.
Typically,
many other people will seem to fall off, when you’re going through this phase
of our life. But ain’t that a part of the challenge too?
#12 STICK TO YOUR WRITING ROUTINE EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE IT.
RESIST TEMPTATION. DON’T WAIT FOR THE MUSE.
Mr. King
suggests writers to not follow their temporary feelings when it comes to their
writing routine. He says it is not a good idea to stop a piece of work midway,
just because we don’t feel like continuing it.
He also
says that a writer shouldn’t wait for the muse to be there each time they sit
down to write. Rather, one should start writing and the muse will appear of its
own accord.
This is how
he describes the muse in a paragraph.
Another
aspect of this scenario is boredom, call it writer’s block or creative jam.
Talking about it, Mr. King says,
#13 WRITE ONE WORD AT A TIME. FILTER
OUT THE DISTRACTIONS.
In a paragraph, he tells us about his
writing routine and that his method of writing is to write “one word at a
time”…
He suggests to filter out all the possible
distractions…
#14 GIVE YOUR MIND A RECUPERATION
PERIOD TO RECYCLE & ORGANIZE THE MATERIAL
Almost all
top-spot authors, and creative professionals, talk about this period of time
that every creative work requires to go through, through the span of its
completion.
#15 RESEARCH IS A SPECIALIZED FORM
OF BACK-STORY (THE BACKGROUND OF A STORY)
According
to Stephen King, research in writing is a specialized kind of a back story. Its purpose is to shape the background of your story. However, he
suggests that one should pay attention to keeping it in the background and not
get lost in it.
#16 HONESTY, MUSICALITY, LISTENING
- THE KEYS TO WRITING GOOD DIALOGUE
Mr. King
defines dialogue as the audio portion of the programme, of writing…
Though he
writes that, good dialogues are always at the edge of receiving a fair amount
of criticism. Read this.
#17 GRAMMAR CAN’T BE TAUGHT AFTER SCHOOL. ONE EITHER KNOWS GRAMMAR OR ONE
DOES NOT.
Speak of
grammar, and it seems to make us feel as if we’ve landed from an infinite
cosmos of imagination into a walled structure.
If too
much, it ends up making a piece too mechanical and programmed by a set of rules.
On the other side, if there is no grammar if at all in a piece, it carries the
risk of disconnecting the piece from the very purpose it is there to convey,
express or communicate.
See what
Mr. King has to say about grammar…
And about the utility of
grammar in fiction...
#18 WORDS HAVE WEIGHT AND PARAGRAPHS BREATHE.
Words have
weight. Really! And they breathe.
#19 PLOT - LET THE PLOT TAKE FORM ON ITS OWN.
#20 THE ADVERB IS NOT YOUR FRIEND.
Mr. King
advices that using too many adverbs in a piece of writing is usually a sign of
a timid writer. Hence, a writer should practice caution and refrain from using
a large number of adverbs in their story, whenever not necessary.
Another
interesting perspective that Mr. King touches upon, pertaining to the topic of
adverbs, is this. That, avoiding usage of too many adverbs in a writing doesn’t
mean that on should replace it with too many attribution verbs either…
This is
what he writes…
#21 CREATING INTERESTING CHARACTERS
Another interesting snippet that he mentions about writing characters is something called 'Character Notes'. He suggests that having a notebook full of character notes, prevents us from doing too much textual character study, and also, enables our mind to focus on developing the story through character creation, rather than by mathematically setting a plot, which is a poor way to draft a story...
#22 STORIES CONSIST OF THREE PARTS (Mainly!)
#23 GOOD DESCRIPTION IS A LEARNED
SKILL
Description
is the sensory juice in the fruit of a story or a piece of writing. Talking
about descriptions, Mr. King writes these points in the book…
#24 VOCABULARY IS THE BREAD OF WRITING. BUT REMEMBER TO NOT GET LOST.
Needless to say that vocabulary forms the crusty part of a writing piece. But it doesn't always have to be too flaky. Sometimes, less is more. Varies from story to story.
#25 SYMBOLISM
In writing and storytelling, symbolism is a tool that is more useful post the writing process than during the process. It usually includes analyzing one's own piece of writing (or story) and interpreting, any clues or metaphors, if at all, which symbolize something. Some laws of nature, something about human psyche, likewise...
While if a book or a writing represents a metaphor, it's a good thing, however, if it does not, a writer doesn't have to look desperately for symbolism...Mr. King suggests.
#26 DESIGN YOUR OWN WRITER’S TOOLBOX!
A watercolor artist needs brush and watercolors to paint. An electrician needs their toolbox to fix the wires and the faults. A software engineer needs codes and algorithms to create an information system. Writers too, need to have a toolbox of their own, which they can refer to, from time to time, in their writing process...
#27 WRITERS & STORYTELLERS ARE NOT MADE BY CIRCUMSTANCES BUT BY
PRACTICE AND RIGHT EQUIPMENT
Anyone can write!
He writes.
That, almost everyone possesses some amount of talent in writing and
storytelling. And with practice and right equipment, the talent can be
strengthened. And it is not by one’s circumstances is that one becomes a
writer.
Ending
note,
#28 JUST DO IT!
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Thank you & Good day!
nehyaneha
