If you were scanning the titles of the blog entries on this site, I’m sure the one above brought you to a screeching halt. It’s a bold statement to make on my part, but it’s the truth…if you squint one eye and cock your head to the right. I do sleep with Stephen King, or should I say his voice, every night and I’m not ashamed to admit it. You see I have a pillow speaker plugged into a CD player that I listen to while I’m falling asleep. My current fave (and has been for a long time) is Stephen King reading his book, ‘On Writing’.
There is something about listening to him speak the words that feels as if he’s sitting in my bed, talking directly to me, without all that annoying cover hogging stuff going on. Now I’ve read ‘On Writing’ and truly believe it’s the most practical instructional writing book ever published. Perhaps that’s due to Mr. King’s down to earth style and approach. Or it may be his ability to cut through the crap and tell it like it is. I’ve always respected people who do that.
There are many books on the market geared for assisting writers. Some are good, some are not so good. What I have realized as I’ve purchased many of these manuals is that a book is only as good as the information you can take away from it. No amount of touting about the latest ‘how to’ is going to help if you can’t personally gleam something useful from the pages.
That is why it annoys me immensely when I hear someone say that there’s only one way to write ‘properly’. Huh? Says who? I may sit around making plans for world domination, but I can’t imagine telling someone how to write. It’s like trying to pick out a purse for a friend, a bad idea all the way around.
The sad thing is to a beginning writer that ‘one way to write’ advice seems like a life raft tossed into the sea of indecision. You’ll grab for anything to keep from drowning. I know when I first started writing any advice was appreciated, whether it helped me or not. When you’re new (like me) you can’t tell the difference between good and bad advice anyway. I figured that if it came from a published author, then it had to be true. (I can hear you laughing. Stop it.)
The truth is when I started writing I thought all published authors were untouchable gods. They lived in a land I longed to visit, but someone forgot to give me directions. In my mind, they sat upon Mount Olympus tossing out words of wisdom, which I gobbled up like an addict in need of a fix. I didn’t see a problem with this scenario until I tried to cram all that wisdom together under one roof. Is it any wonder my house exploded?
Trying to sort through the misinformation created a void in my writing. I was so afraid of making a wrong move that I became locked into place. It took me months to break out of the cage I’d constructed from all the rules. Actually, had it not been for Stephen King and his handy toolbox, I might still be there. He taught me that there’s more than one way to bludgeon a book. The only rule that a writer has to follow is to tell the truth. I suppose that should apply to life too.
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Great post, Jordan. Every time someone reminds me of rules, I think of a scene from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Butch wants to avoid a knife fight with a bigger, meaner outlaw. Thinking fast, he stalls, claiming they need to establish rules. “Rules?” says the incredulous outlaw. “There’s no rules in a knife fight.” Butch, who knew that all along, capitalizes on the time he bought himself and promptly fells the opponent with a good shot to a sensitive area.
Hang the rules. Write the best, most entertaining book that you can, no matter how you do it.
Great post, Jordan. That’s one of my favorite books, too.
Mary Stella, I’d forgotten that scene!:lol:
Thank you, Jordan, you describe that sense of desperate ignorance perfectly!
Hi, Jordan!
I don’t know anything about writing, but I have the type of voice that has the ability to put people right to sleep.
I should bottle it.
Wait a minute, you mean I’m _not_ an untouchable goddess?
(off to cross out the second line on the business card order form)
Great reminder, Mary. I haven’t seen that movie in a long time, but I do remember that scene. Very funny.
Thanks Charlene!
Bernita, I’ve discovered you can only describe it, if you’ve lived it.:lol:
Walt, That is a gift. (wg) I say cultivate it.
PBW, Cross out the untouchable, keep the goddess.
All of the advice and ‘wisdom’ does get a bit overwhelming. And, as in life, what works for one person may not for another.
And Jordan, it’s interesting to hear that you not only sleep with Mr. King–but that he’s good…
Raine, I’ve shared all I plan to share about my personal life. ;-P
Great post. And King’s book is a must have for writers; I love his writer’s toolbox. I’ve been a fan of his for more than 20 years . . . He even wrote me a postcard after I sent a rambling fan letter to him when I was 14.
Alison, That’s beyond cool that you received a postcard from him. The only person I wrote at that age was the Bionic Woman.
I wish I knew what happened to the postcard she sent me.:???:
Allison with two ‘L’s’. Sorry about that. I hit enter as I was correcting my mistake.
I’ve never read his book, but you made me want to, Jordan! I got me a gift certificate to my local bookshop and I’m going to buy On Writing, and Vamped. Woot!
Ann, I think you’re going to love it.:smile:
My copy of “On Writing” is filled with underlined passages.
My favorite part is (and I’m paraphrasing because I loaned the book to a friend) when he says “The road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I’ll shout it from the highest building top.”
Candice, That’s classic Stephen King, isn’t it? LOL!
The best advice in his book is so simple:
“Write a lot. Read a lot.”
As for writing advice in general–I look at it as the writer knows what works for him and he’s telling us what that is. We can try it and if it doesn’t work, discard it in favor of what does work. Sometimes no advice works and you have to face the blank page alone and figure it out for yourself.
Linda, I agree. The key is to not get ‘flattened’, as he likes to say, by the quality of the books you’re reading. I think he’s spot on when he says that reading the bad books are the best thing a new writer can do. It makes them say, ‘I can do that’.:smile: