What is the meaning of the "Toolbox" in the Stephen King's "On Writing"?
This is my favorite book on writing.It has more stories than "On Writing Well" but has less direct advice.You should read both of them.
Good ideas come from seemingly unrelated concepts coming together and making a new thought in your head.Your job is to recognize when they show up and take advantage of them, you can't force it.
You should write it for yourself when you first start writing.Write it for everyone else when you rewrite it.Take everything out of the story.Everyone else owns it once it is out there.
Art is a support system for life.To remind yourself of this, keep your desk in the corner.
If you want to be a writer, you need to read and write a lot.There is no way around these two things.
You can learn from reading bad prose and mediocre prose.The dialogue in The Martian is an example of a problem that will stand out in your experience.
The first draft of a book should take no more than three months.
I like to get ten pages a day.A good length for a book, 180,000 words over three months, is something in which the reader can get happily lost, if the tale is done well and stays fresh.
I suggest a thousand words a day, and because I am feeling magnanimous, I will also suggest that you take one day a week off, at least to begin with.
If possible, there should be no phone in your writing room, and no TV or games for you to play.Unless it looks out at a blank wall, draw the curtains or pull down the shades.It is wise to eliminate distraction for the beginning writer.
He ran like a madman, she was pretty as a summer day and the guy was a hot ticket....Don't waste my time with such chestnuts.It makes you look ignorant or lazy.
No matter how boring or crazy it is, try any goddam thing you like.If it works, that's fine.Throw it if it doesn't.Even if you love it, toss it.He once said, "Murder your darlings," and he was right.
If you are a beginner, I want you to take your story through at least two drafts, one closed and one open.
Between drafts: "How long you let your book rest is up to you, but I think it should be a minimum of six weeks."Your manuscript will be locked away in a desk drawer during this time.
Every novelist has a single ideal reader, and my wife is the first one I look for.
Everyone has a history and most of it isn't very interesting, that's the most important thing to remember about back story.Don't get carried away with the rest of the parts.
Writing is not about getting famous, getting dates, or making friends.It is about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, as well as enriching your own.It is about getting up, getting well, and getting over.Getting happy?Being happy.Some of the book is about how I learned to do it.It has been about how you can do it better.If you are brave enough to start, the rest of it is a permission slip.As much as any other creative art, writing is magic.The water is free.So have a drink.Drink and be filled up.