Stephen King’s On Writing was both the book most recommended to me when I began thinking seriously about a writing career and the book that had the best, most concise, most immediately applicable advice. He’s witty, he’s been through the trenches (more than once) and has obviously found ways to be productive, be successful, and take care of the body and brain that allow his creativity to flow in the best way possible.
What I’m saying is that when the man gives writing advice, we’d do well to pay attention – so listen up!
Your first goal shouldn’t be to play to the audience – find and love your own style.
“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. Your stuff starts out being just for you, but then it goes out.”
“One cannot imitate a writer’s approach to a particular genre, no matter how simple what the writer is doing may seem. …vocabulary is not the same thing as feeling and plot is light years from the truth as it is understood by the mind and the heart.”
Find your active voice.
“Timid writers like passive verbs for the same reason that timid lovers like passive partners. The passive voice is safe.”
Adverbs are a crutch – lose them.
“The adverb is not your friend. Consider the sentence ‘He closed the door firmly. It’s by no means a terrible sentence, but ask yourself it ‘firmly’ really has to be there. What about context? What about all the enlightening (not to say emotionally moving) prose which came before… Shouldn’t this tell us how he closed the door?”
“While to write adverbs is human, to write ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ is divine.”
Don’t worry about political correctness, at least not in your writing.
“…if you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second to least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered anyway.”
…
The post Stephen King’s Best Pieces of Advice for Writers appeared first on FeedBox.