I collect books about writing. Many of them are terrible, but I’ve found some good ones, and Steven King’s “On Writing” is pretty good. It starts as an auto-biography of his writing life, then moves to practical advice for working with words. Thought you’d like this paragraph. I think it’s true:
“Once I start work on a project, I don’t stop and I don’t slow down unless I absolutely have to. If I don’t write every day, the characters begin to stale off in my mind-they begin to seem like characters isteand of real people. The tale’s narrative cutting edge starts to rust and I begin to lose my hold on the story’s plot and pace. Worst of all, the excitement of spinning something new begins to fade. The work starts to feel like work, and for most writers that is the smooch of death. Writing is at its best-always, always, always-when it is a kind of inspired play for the writer. I can write in cold blod if I have to, but I like it best when it’s fresh and almost too hot to handle.”
There you go, writers. I guess when you have an idea, sit down and write it out before it gets cold.
cool post. it’s actually stephen king.
Yes, and I am in the mood now to just sit down and write for hours or days. But the children get hungry. And the laundry piles up. And the taxes need to be done.
the. for the love of god. teh.
i love “on writing”
he’s got some great stories about how he sacrificed to make his dream happen.
I’ve also read Stephen King’s On Writing and found it very helpful. I enjoyed reading the autobiographical bits plus the practicalities of breaking the word count down to a daily goal.
I have to say that all the major typos in here are quite amusing.
And as a former Stephen King fan (who used to dream Stephen King-ish dreams) I do think it’s interesting what he says about how he writes his stories. Especially considering that at the core his stories are repetitive. Same city, same drama same same same.
I’m with Georgetta (again) on this one. Too bad my day job gets in the way of my dream job. Or rather, I’m out there LIVING.
I loved On Writing. He does a great job of encouraging writers to not do it for the money, but because you love to write. He also tells the writer to firmly plant their butts in a chair and to write. He is also realistic and tells how he used to write on his lunch hour while working day jobs; for the busy people, this might be encouraging.Very funny in some places and kind of sobering in others. Overall a good read. Thanks for your thoughts.
So true. I know many people who really love his book, “On Writing,” yet I have not read it myself.
I decided last night to finally start writing my first book that I’ve been telling myself to write for years. I’ve noticed that getting started is the hardest part, because it’s just a jumbled mess with not much coherance yet. Luckily, a friend of mine told me that a book isn’t written in a week. Hopefully, I can keep King’s philosophy of writing till you can’t stop.
I love that book. Another reason to move to Maine and be a writer: hanging out with Mr. King.
Thanks for posting this Don.
I remember some time ago wanting to read this book, how long ago now I don’t recall, but I’ll have to look up the copyright as I think it was when it was first published.
But glad to hear it’s been a good read. I’ve never actually read anything of Stephen King’s but I’m sure with as much success as he’s had any advise would be sage.
I’ll tend to come up with multiple story ideas, but I think he’s right. If I file them away for another day I rarely will get back to them. I think for me too, I need to discipline myself to write so much daily, like Susan commented, maybe setting a daily word count would help – whatever it takes:)
Well, will definitely be looking for this next time I’m at the bookstore (or a used copy as I was right, first edition Oct 2000). Time flies!
Encouraging. Thanks for being helpful. What page is that quote on?
I just picked up my copy and flipped open to this on page 145: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. there’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”
I’m not a King fan. But a friend suggested this. And I did find (according to my bookmark) up through page 74 to be constructive, especially in understanding what “voice” is. Better yet, I gained compassion and admiration for King.
Thanks, Don, I always appreciate the little tid bits of information you make available to us. It’s encouraging and very helpful.
Though, the typos… Were they on purpose?
Those aren’t typos. Don is just seeding the discussion for the next writing tip: “Write drunk. Edit sober.”
So what are some of your favorite books on writing? I really need to stop reading the books on writing and just write, but I always love the good book on writing
~CKrumm
This is one of the only books on writing that I would buy. I heard about it from Merlin Mann not too long ago. It’s on my “list of stuff to include in the budget.”
stephen king is a genius. i know that’s not hip to say, and the guy writes some terrible, terrible sentences, but he writes teenagers better than anyone, and he’s not afraid to see the terror in everyday life, even if he has to dramatize it with psycho gutterclowns. plus he promotes truly great writers all the time, like barry hannah and william gay and karen russell.
i mean, the guy’s aware. he calls his own writing the literary equivalent of a big mac and fries. and i love big macs.
That King book is one of my favorites. All his other books lead to sleepless nights for me, but “On Writing” has a permanent place on my bookshelf.
I think I will read it again. Thanks for sharing.
Why don’t my comments make it?
Ooops! This time it did, immediately. Thanks.
Too bad I didn’t know this 8 days ago when I stopped working on my senior project in creative writing.
Crap! Now my characters will be stale.
[...] you must read this. [...]
“On Writing,” like “Elements of Style,” is a book I like to re-read (the tips section not the memoir) every other year as a kind of pep talk. Renews the mental energy.
So true. It is literary death to let it get stale.
Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.
~ Henry David Thoreau
I think the best book I’ve ever read on writing is Ann Lamott’s Bird by Bird. Awesome!
Don–
You probably won’t get this, but I’m giving it a shot.
I’m an author (written 5 books) and a pastor and I’d be so grateful if you would read a few paragraphs of my new book, Eats With Sinners. I serve with Journey Christian Church in Greeley, Colorado.
Blue Like Jazz was an important element of the spiritual soil from which my book grew.
Overview of Book: Eats With Sinners
Arron Chambers believes that too many Christians are better at studying, talking about, contemplating, and planning for evangelism than they are at actually sharing their faith with their non-Christian friends. Face it. It is much easier to talk about winning our friends for Christ than it is to actually do it. Arron believes that—in our attempts at faithfulness to the Scriptures and obedience to God—we have inadvertently over-complicated what should be a relatively simple process and intimidated what should be optimistic evangelists.
In too many churches evangelism is presented as a battle to be survived. One must be prepared to out-wit, out-play, and out-last one’s “lost” opponent or face defeat and the shame of being voted off of God’s island, so we prepare evangelists for “war” by arming them with twenty pound KJV Bibles, ten key scriptures set to memory, a few gimmicks, a healthy fear of Hell, a spot on a street corner, a handful of tracks professionally designed to make a “lost” person keenly aware of his sins and—thus—compelled to throw himself into the nearest baptistery lest he be damned to tread water for all eternity in a lake of fire, and the cell phone number of the preacher in case everything goes bad and one needs to call in “The Man.”
Arron Chambers believes that biblical evangelism is not a war to be won, but a relationship to be built. It’s not about yelling, but about listening. It’s not about judging, but about understanding. It’s not about education, but about affection. It’s not about sending people to Hell, but about helping them find their way to Heaven. It’s not about sermons, but about testimonies. And Arron is convinced that it’s a not a verbal battle on a street-corner, but conversation at a dinner table that is most effective at opening someone’s heart to the possibility of a saving relationship with the Savior.
In a nut-shell: this book is not a call for Christians to go to war with “lost” people, but a call for Christians to go to lunch with them. This book is not a call for the Church to come out of the world, but to get back into it.
Exploring the methods Christ used to reach people, Eats With Sinners presents the 13 key ingredients of Christ-like evangelism.
Finally, a book on evangelism that will actually equip people to reach their friends for Christ! Eats With Sinners moves the hope of reaching one’s friends for Christ from an abstract possibility to an obtainable reality. This book presents an evangelistic method that is not intimidating, but empowering, because it is based, not on what some preacher thinks you should do, but on what Christ actually did to reach lost people.
Arron Chambers, author of, Running on Empty: Life Lessons to Refuel Your Life (Life Journey, 2005), Scripture to Live By (Adams Media, March 2007), and Remember Who You Are (Standard Publishing, July 2007), Casi no tengo combustible para seguir: Lecciones De La Vida Para Recargar Tu Fe (Spanish version of Running on Empty, Zondervan, November 2007), and Go! Moving From Studio Audience to Center Stage (Standard Publishing 2009) is the Lead Minister at Journey Christian Church (www.EnjoyTheJourney.us) in Greeley, Colorado. He’s also an Adjunct Professor at Florida Christian College, Contributing Editor of The Christian Standard (Standard Publishing), President & Founder of Tri Life, Inc., a triathlete, an inspirational speaker who speaks to thousands of people each year, husband of a lovely wife for 18 years, and the father of 4 beautiful kids.
[...] 2009 April 6 by chrismorphew Last week, a post on Don Miller’s blog reminded me how much I liked Stephen King’s On Writing – it’s easily the best [...]