10 Writing Tips From Stephen King

Have you ever felt so truly inspired to write a novel—and then had no idea what to write about? Have you ever felt the crippling doubt that comes along with pouring your heart out on paper? Well, have no fear! Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft features a bounty of inspiring quotes for channeling your inner author and battling self-doubt.

1. On what it takes:

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“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."

2. On going forward:

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“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”

3. On motivation:

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“You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.”

4. On keeping it simple:

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“Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.”

5. On quality:

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“I think the best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event, which is to say character-driven.”

6. On style:

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“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”

7. On meaning:

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“Words create sentences; sentences create paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe.”

8. On happiness:

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“Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It's about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.”

9. On finding ideas:

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“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.”

10. On hard work:

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“There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer. He lives in the ground. He’s a basement kind of guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you. Do you think it’s fair? I think it’s fair. He may not be much to look at, that muse-guy, and he may not be much of a conversationalist, but he’s got inspiration. It’s right that you should do all the work and burn all the mid-night oil, because the guy with the cigar and the little wings has got a bag of magic. There’s stuff in there that can change your life. Believe me, I know.”

All quotes taken from Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft