Here's Steven King's Best Writing Advice - 10 Writing Tips
One of the ways that I’m preparing for my upcoming film project at Joyce Maynard’s memoir writing workshop in Guatemala is by reading books on writing. This is probably overdue, since I’ve written over 60,000 words in the last few months and haven’t done much to sharpen my skills. Thus, I’m very grateful for this trip and for the kick-in-the-butt reasons to brush up on my chops.
I just devoured On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Steven King and it was just as good as they touted. Here are my top 10 pieces of writing advice from Steven:
Daily, non-negotiable writing habit. Steven King says that he writes 2000 words a day, rain or shine, whether it’s his birthday or Christmas day. I can relate to this almost maniacal feeling that if I don’t write on a particular day, something is missing.
Work with the season. King says he believes that a book should take three months, the approximate length of a season. This is exciting to me, because I have been feeling the desire to want to connect the pieces that I write in the mornings. I’ve had an idea for little book called ‘The Call to Create’ for a while now. But it does require more brainpower, and I haven’t felt up to completing it - but now I’ve learned strategy that will help me. King says that when he’s not working on a project, he’s not writing. It’s the momentum from a current project that keeps the writing habit alive. (I’ve been keeping the writing habit alive, without a current project. My next frontier would be to start a large project that I can work on everyday.)
Read a lot, write a lot. This is King’s axiom, his #1 piece of writing advice. I spent my earlier years reading only when I wanted to, but King’s advice confirms what my gut has been saying: you’ve got to read more, especially fiction. According to King, reading has multiple benefits: it helps you to see what works, and what doesn’t, when an author drag on, when a description used well. You absorb different styles, which helps you develop your own.
Three elements of a story are Narrative, Description and Dialogue. As I non-fiction writer, I’m not well-practiced in any of these elements, but I’m looking forward to learning!
Work with the vocabulary you’ve got. King shows examples of authors with big vocabularies who write passages that would go over most of our heads, contrasted with authors with small vocabularies who can write punchy, impactful passages. This takes some of the weight off of my shoulders. I don’t have a particularly big vocabulary, but I can work with what I’ve got!
If you want to write, you can! Writing is free. Writing is magic. The book is sprinkled with pearls of encouragement, which are fuel for the budding writer. Not a lot, but just enough that you know he’s sincere. These are gold. How else can you have Steve King has your personal writing mentor?
“The rest of [the book] - perhaps the best of it - is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will. Writing is magic, as much as the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.”- Steven King
Polish up on grammar. King recommends ‘The Elements of Style’ by William Strunk. Grammar may not be sexy, but I understand that if I want to improve my writing, it’s mandatory to understand the fundamentals. That book is on my hit list.
Write what I know, what I like. Weave it bits of yourself in your piece, this is what makes the work unique. Write with honesty.
Workflow: write two drafts and a polish. Let the first draft flow. Write as fast as you can. Don’t show anyone your first draft. Let it sit and simmer for six weeks before you pull it back out and make your first set of revisions. After this, show it to your cluster of trusted test readers. Incorporate what of their feedback you think is necessary. Polish the manuscript.
2nd Draft = 1st Draft - 10%. Everything is collapsible. Cut out the excess, which means you’ll have to learn to spot the excess. King includes a spectacular example of putting a piece through the chopping board in his afterward. The second draft should be 10% shorter than your first.
BONUS TIP, especially for fiction writers: start with a situation and let the characters unfold. King says that he never writes with a plot in mind. He starts with a situation and allows the characters to show him how they react. Although I currently don’t write fiction, I’m looking forward to incorporating this into how I tell stories.
