What Writing Is By Stephen King Telepathy, of course. It’s amusing when you stop to think about it—for years people have argued about whether or not such a thing exists, folks like J. Rhine have busted their brains trying to create a valid testing process to isolate it, and all the time its been right there, lying out in the open like Mr.
Poe’s Purloined Letter. All the arts depend upon telepathy to some degree, but I believe that writing offers the purest distillation. Perhaps I’m prejudiced, but even if I am we may as well stick with writing, since it’s what we came here to think and talk about. My name is Stephen King.
I’m writing the first draft of this part at my desk (the one under the eave) on a snowy morning in December of 1997. There are things on my mind.
Some are worries (bad eyes, Christmas shopping not even starred, wife under the weather with a virus), some are good things (our younger son made a surprise visit home from college, I got to play Vince Taylor’s “Brand New Cadillac” with The Wallflowers at a concert), but right now all that stuff is up top. I’m in another place, a basement place where there are lots of bright lights and clear images. This is a place I’ve built for myself over the years. It’s a far-seeing place. I know it’s a little strange, a little bit of a contradiction, that a far-seeing place should also be a basement place, but that’s how it is with me. If you construct your own far-seeing place, you might put it in a treetop or on the roof of the World Trade Center or on the edge of the Grand Canyon. That’s your little red wagon, as Robert McCammon says in one of his novels.
This book is scheduled to be published in the late summer or early fall of 2000.If that’s how things work out, then you are somewhere downstream on the timeline from me but you’re quite likely in your own far-seeing place, the one where you go to receive telepathic messages. Not that you have to be there; books are a uniquely portable magic.
I usually listen to one in the car (always unabridged; I think abridged audio-books are the pits), and carry another wherever I go. You just never know when you’ll want an escape hatch: mile-long lines at tollbooth plazas, the fifteen minutes you have to spend in the hall of some boring college building waiting for your advisor (who’s got some yank-off in there threatening to commit suicide because he/she is flunking Custom Kurmfurling 101 ) to come out so you can get his signature on a drop-card, airport boarding lounges, laundromats on rainy afternoons, and the absolute worst, which is the doctor’s office when the guy is running late and you have to wait half an hour in order to have something sensitive mauled. At such times I find a book vital. If I have to spend time in purgatory before going to one place or the other, I guess I’ll be all right as long as there’s a lending library (if there is it’s probably stocked with nothing but novels by Danielle Steel and Chicken Soup books, ha-ha, joke’s on you, Steve). So I read where I can, but I have a favorite place and probably you do, too - a place where the light is good and the vibe is unusually strong. For me it’s the blue chair in my study. For you it might he the couch on the sunporch, the rocket in the kitchen, or maybe it’s propped up in your bed — reading in bed can be heaven, assuming you can get just the right amount of light on the page and aren’t prone to spilling your coffee or cognac on the sheets.
So let’s assume that you’re in your favorite receiving place just as I am in the place where I do my best transmitting. We’ll have to perform our mentalist routine not just over distance but over time as well, yet that presents no real problem; if we can still read Dickens, Shakespeare, and (with the help of a footnote or two) Herodotus, I think we can manage the gap between 1997 and 2000.And here we go — actual telepathy in action. You’ll notice I have nothing up my sleeves and that my lips never move. Neither, most likely, do yours. Look — here’s a table covered with a red cloth. On it is a cage the size of a small fish aquarium. In the cage is a white rabbit with a pink nose and pink-rimmed eyes.
In its front paws is a carrot-stub upon which it is contentedly munching. On its back, clearly marked in blue ink, is the numeral 8. Do we see the same thing? We’d have to get together and compare notes to make absolutely sure, but I think we do.
There will be necessary variations, of course: some receivers will see a cloth which is turkey red, some will see one that’s scarlet, while others may see still other shades. (To colorblind receivers, the red tablecloth is the dark gray of cigar ashes.) Some may see scalloped edges, some may see straight ones. Decorative souls may add a little lace, and welcome - my tablecloth is your tablecloth, knock yourself out. Likewise, the matter of the cage leaves quite a lot of room for individual interpretation. For one thing, it is described in terms of rough comparison, which is useful only if you and I see the world and measure the things in it with similar eyes. It’s easy to become careless when making rough comparisons, but the alternative is a prissy attention to detail that takes all the fun out of writing.
What am I going to say, “on the table is a cage three feet, six inches in length, two feet in width, and fourteen inches high”? That’s not prose, that’s an instruction manual. The paragraph also doesn’t tell us what sort of material the cage is made of—wire mesh? Glass?—but does it really matter?
We all understand the cage is a see-through medium; beyond that, we don’t care. The most interesting thing here isn’t even the carrot-munching rabbit in the cage, but the number on its back. Not a six, not a four, not nineteen-point-five. It’s an eight.
This is what were looking at, and we all see it. I didn’t tell you. You didn’t ask me. I never opened my mouth and you never opened yours. We’re not even in the same year together, let alone the same room. Except we are together. We’re having a meeting of the minds.
I sent you a table with a red cloth on it, a cage, a rabbit, and the number eight in blue ink. You got them all, especially that blue eight.
We’ve engaged in an act of telepathy. No mythy-mountain shit; real telepathy. I’m not going to belabor the point, but before we go any further you have to understand that I’m not trying to be cute; there is a point to be made. You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair - the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart.
You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly.Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page. I’m not asking you to come reverently or unquestioningly; I’m not asking you to be politically correct or cast aside your sense of humor (please God you have one). This isn’t a popularity contest, it’s not the moral Olympics, and it’s not church. But it’s writing, damn it, not washing the car or putting on eyeliner. If you can take it seriously, we can do business.
If you can't or won’t, it’s time for you to close the book and do something else. Wash the car, maybe.
From Stephen King’s On Writing (2000).
Immensely helpful and illuminating to any aspiring writer, this special edition of Stephen King’s critically lauded, million-copy bestseller shares the experiences, habits, and convictions that have shaped him and his work. “Long live the King” hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King’s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999—and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it—fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told. Topics: Inspirational, Creativity, Writing, 20th Century, Maine, and American Author.
There are many ways to approach writing a story: you can interview your characters first, plot the story before you start writing, or use Stephen King’s approach, which is to start with the situation. I believe plotting and the spontaneity of real creation aren’t compatible. —Stephen King In, King suggests that stories are found objects and it is the writer’s job to “watch what happens and write it down.” I want to put a group of characters (perhaps a pair; perhaps even just one) in some sort of predicament and then watch them try to work themselves free. —Stephen King Discovering as You Write Using King’s suggestion, I thought of a situation and a predicament and then wrote the story. The story wasn’t plotted beforehand; the characters’ personalities came out as I wrote the story. The characters were two women who were neighbors.
The predicament is one of the women finds out her neighbor has been killing her cats. I wasn’t sure where the story would go. I allowed it to develop as I wrote the story. The story I ended up with wasn’t the one I thought I would write. I let the character lead the plot.
Sally sat on a stool in front of the workbench. She heard the hum of the furnace and the ticking of the clock. The room smelled of rat poison and dried blood.
She stared at the hides tacked to the wall. They were covered in cobwebs. They were cats. Characters Over Plot Peter Meinke, an American poet and author, says, “In my stories, I usually begin with a character who interests me and let him or her take me where he wants to go.” “The piano tuner was a huge man, crowding the doorway.
I hadn’t known he was coming, but I got up from my desk to let him in; my wife was still out shopping.” —Peter Meinke, “,” winner of the 1986 Flannery O’Connor Award for short fiction While you are writing your story you might get an idea of where the plot will go; however, Meinke suggests you let the plot go and follow the characters. King asks “what if” questions and thinks of several situations which he turns into books. What if vampires invaded a small New England village? ( Salem’s Lot) What if a young mother and her son become trapped in their stalled car by a rabid dog? ( Cujo) —Stephen King Stephen King believes stories that are character driven are more interesting than plot driven stories.
He doesn’t manipulate his characters by prewriting the plot; he watches what happens and then writes it down. King starts with a situation. Start Writing Do you plan your stories before you write them? Do you start with a character or a situation? Do you know where your story will end before you begin writing?
These are all valid ways to write stories. But today, perhaps you might try beginning with a situation and following a character who will lead you to the end. Do you agree with Stephen King? Do you think starting with a situation and letting the characters tell their own story is better than writing a plot first?
What Writing Is Stephen King Summary
Let us know in. PRACTICE Today we will use the same approach Stephen King uses to write a story. Your story doesn’t have to be horror; it can be fantasy, romance, thriller, adventure, cat cosy, or any gender you choose. Let’s “put a group of characters (perhaps a pair; perhaps even just one) in some sort of predicament and then watch them try to work themselves free.” Today we will take a character and put them in a situation, and then write to see what the character or characters wants to do.
Here are a few situations you can use, or you can create your own: What if you were on an airplane and you were sitting next to an escaped convict? What if you found a dead body in the airport lounge? What if your only weapon against the robber was the banana you dropped on the floor? When you’re done, share your practice in, and don’t forget to leave feedback for your fellow writers!
Posted By: BDRichardson - March 4th, 2012 11:04:20 pm EST Hello, 'Mr. (quote from CARS) I'll just have you know.
You're my muse now. Thanks a lot for that. Or my supervisor. You're pretty mean when it comes to me whining about the difficulty of production in the midst of life's various woes.
Plus (as you pointed out) you're not a hot girl. On Writing might have changed my (writing) life.
Thanks for the permission slip, and lighting my exodus from 'politically correct society.' I'm sure you've heard it a bunch of times. But I figured I owed you some kudos. Posted By: David Hoag - February 25th, 2012 5:39:53 pm EST DEVELOP A STORY HOW TO DEVELOP AND FINISH STORIES Look in your files for a story that seems stuck, a story that has a story block. Next, write at the top of a separate sheet of paper the two words WHAT IF. Now write five ways of continuing the story, not ending the story, but continuing the story to the next event, scene, etc.
Let your imagination go wild. Loosen up your thinking about the events in the story.
Your what ifs can be as diverse as your imagination can make them. More than likely, and this has proved to be true through years of teaching and writing, one of the what ifs will feel right, organic, to your story and that is the direction in which you should go.
Sometimes you will have to do several groups of what ifs per story, but thats OK as long as they keep you moving forward. From On Writing. By Stephen King, 2000 The whole process of creative writing reminds me of Robert Frosts poem The Road Not Taken. The only given is that a character does SOMETHING, Who the character is, and what the character does, is something that is left entirely up to the writer. That said, it seems to me that the best generator of fiction would consist of a team.
On Writing Stephen King Pdf Download
The team would be part child-like and preferably young to do the sort of thing that children do all the time dreaming up what-if situations at a moments notice; this team-member, by definition, would be the artist. Part of the team would also have to be well educated in the use of the English language - knowing the subtleties of meanings, how to change voice and how to change point of view, and when to do it; this part of the team would, by definition, be skilled. The best candidate for this educated part of the team would be an experienced fiction writer. This truth was brought home to me a few years ago as my 12- year- old grandson, Richie, sat at this computer and composed a brief story based on an ancient culture which he was then studying in social studies. The assignment would be judged by both his Social Studies and English teachers. The complexity of the story that he turned out in one evening was something that I marvel at, even now.
It would have taken me at least a week to do that. I quote his beginning, The male children came running up the perfectly carved steps of the massive temple. They marched in one by one in a single filed line to their places on the stone ground.
The children stared intently at me, ready to begin their lesson of the glorious civilization of the Aztecs. This is how my day goes all week. The lesson today was on the gods, particularly Tlaloc, the god of rain. After the lesson the boys left and my schedule took me down the stairs of the temple. My body bore no shirt, but I was covered with jewelry and a headdress. As soon as my body left the blistering heat of the temple, a new heat source arose.
The god of Huitzilopochtli shone down on the city of Tenochitlan like a torch in a black bottomless cave. It was the time of spring. Xipe Totec was working his magic on the land and the city. ` Do you see what I mean?
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(He went on for about 1650 words in this vein.) A social studies assignment when I went to school might call for some elementary research in the textbook to get the correct spellings of the names of the gods of the Aztecs, but it certainly wouldnt call for any creativity. I understand, though, that his English teacher is now looking for examples of figurative speech. The invention of strings of words takes considerable time, as well as talent. I think that if I went back to the seventh grade now, at age 73, I would flunk it because I wouldnt be able to produce the homework as rapidly as it was demanded. (When I was his age, no works of fiction were demanded of me.
It wasnt until I got into high school that essays or descriptions were required, and then, only one per week.) To save the students time and energy, then, it is my contention that most of the writing required of English students Richies age should be descriptive. Video yugioh gx sub indo full episode. As far as creative writing goes, one brief short story per week should be plenty.
He should be encouraged to keep a fiction-writers notebook or even a diary, though. The ideas that come to him easily now are things that he will find out of reach when he is older, unless he has a resource such as a notebook to help him. The Ages of Man When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. These familiar words of Paul, from the New Testament of the Christians Holy Bible, have always implied to me, up to now, that grown-up attitudes are more to be desired than child-like attitudes. But I now strongly believe that some child-like attitudes are something that we grown-ups would be well-advised to emulate. This is the way I see it: Each of us is born, and begins life at age zero.
At that time, the normal babys wants are few, his charity non-existent. His cry means that he is hungry, lonely, or wants his diaper changed. Education continues, both at home and at school in the best cases, and time marches on, and the transitory teen or tween years descend. To my way of thinking, that doesnt mean all childlike behavior should disappear - just become less frequent - sort of recede into the background.
Likewise, adult behavior and mature adult behavior GENERALLY replaces all learned behavior that preceded it, but not ALWAYS. As noted in the ideal make-up of a writing team. David Hoag, 2012.