Writing Advice from Stephen King!

All art is done by imitation. Truthfully, everything is done by it. Which means, so is writing! And what do knew writers do first most of the time? They look to their favorite authors for some advice via the internet! I know when I first realized I truly wanted to be an author, I looked up writing advice from multiple authors I loved! So, first up is Stephen King! King has a book all about writing, called On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, and I can't express how many times I have reread it. I always learn something new from it, no matter how many times I read it. You can get it on amazon for $12.48 for paperback, and $15.98 for hardback! I definitely recommend it. But now what we are really here for- writing tips for Stephen King himself! 1.) Start writing daily. "I wake up. I eat breakfast. I walk about three and a half miles. I come back, I go out to my little office, where I've got a manuscript, and the last page that I was happy with is on top. I read that, and it's like getting on a taxiway. I'm able to go through and revise it and put myself – click – back into that world, whatever it is. I don't spend the day writing. I'll maybe write fresh copy for two hours, and then I'll go back and revise some of it and print what I like and then turn it off." 2.) Go where the story leads you. "When I started [Salem’s Lot] I thought to myself, 'Well, this will be the opposite of Dracula where the good guys win and in this book the good guys are gonna lose and everybody’s gonna become a vampire at the end of the book.' And that didn’t happen. Because you go where the book leads you." I can most definitely say that this part is true! HITMAN was definitely not supposed to end the way it did. I had an entire ending mapped out on paper, just for my own novel to go a different way. But it's okay, I think I like the ending I wrote more than my original. Never fight your story to go where you had originally wanted it to. You just might be amazed at the ending it chose. Sometimes, books know more than we do even if we are the ones writing them. 3.) Kill your darlings. "Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings." Absolutely. No ifs, ands, whats, or buts. Kill your darlings. It will break your heart, and anyone else's heart who reads it. But what better way to bring someone into your novel and trap them with a character they love when you kill them off later? I know when I had people reading over what I was writing to make sure it sounded good, I got so many messages about a death I created. But at the end of the day, they absolutely loved the story, and they are left wanting more. 4.) Don't Over-Describe. "In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it 'got boring,' the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling."

I hope some of these tips helped you! Because I know that they helped me once upon a time, and still continue to help me.