More Tips on Writing from King:

More Tips on Writing from King:

Inspiration and Good Writing

As I stated in the introduction, this blog will focus on King’s process of writing, as well as his body of work. Granted, there will ultimately be more articles on his body of work than the process itself.  Why?  He uses the same process with each of his pieces. However, it is important to understand that process in order to gain more from the exploration of his work. Being able to understand his process also provides important advice for our own attempts at penning an original piece, if that is the goal.

The first step is to understand that writing, in all forms, is indeed art.  Therefore, all writers are artists.  It doesn’t matter what the medium of the writer is; the finished product is still art.  It may be hard to imagine a newspaper story as art, but it is a product created from the mind and skills of the writer.  King considers writing to be the highest form of art.  In On Writing, King writes, “All the arts depend upon telepathy to some degree, but I believe that writing offers the purest distillation” (103).

One thing to remember about writing or anything else that one attempts to do, it is important to be dedicated to the project. Some might think being a comedian or a rodeo clown is having fun at work all day, and it might be. Many people have fun at work, but it is still work. Comedians and rodeo clowns work hard at their jobs. However, just because someone is having fun does not mean that they don’t take their job seriously.  This is an important point that King makes about writing, and reading his memoir about writing: 

“But it’s writing, damn it, not washing the car or putting on eyeliner. If you can take it seriously, we can do business. If you can’t or won’t, it’s time for you to close the book and do something else” (107).

The hardest thing that writers, regardless of their experience, struggle with in the process is trying to determine if what they have produced is worthy of an audience.  As a writer, I have penned a few novels and more than a few short stories that I felt was a waste of time when I finished.  It is not uncommon for writers to even quit in the middle of a story due to what King refers to as “fear.”  The fear of writing a bad story can be more crippling than any monster in a King story.  King wrote the following about that fear:

“Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation. Affectation itself, beginning with the need to define some sorts of writing as “good” and other sorts as “bad,” is fearful behavior. Good writing is also about making good choices when it comes to picking the tools you plan to work with” (128).

Another issue that writers face is finding that inspiration or story idea for the next top seller that they hope to pen.  King, like many successful writers, is often asked how they came up with an idea for a story.  Some may believe that these ideas are part of a magical blueprint of writing.  King assures us that there is no such formula for generating ideas.  He wrote the following about the origins of his own 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” (37).

King has said many times that the key to writing is just doing it.  You can’t be a “writer” if you don’t write.  You also can’t write in a place that is a hub of activity.  Writing is a personal thing that requires isolation of body and mind to do it successfully. King recommends the following advice for beginning the writing process:

“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 the art. It’s the other way around” (101).

So let go of those debilitating fears, push the desk in the corner, grab those ideas that have landed in your lap, and start writing.  Who knows what may come of it!  I assure you that the results will be satisfying on so many levels. As a friend posted in the comment section of an earlier article – Write on!