The former is not.” Make sure you only include details that move your story forward and that persuade your reader to continue reading. “What you need to remember is that there's a difference between lecturing about what you know and using it to enrich the story,” writes King. Don't give too much background information. “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,” notes King.ġ1. Use fresh images and simple vocabulary to avoid exhausting your reader. The key to good description is clarity, both in observation and in writing. You need to describe things “ in a way that will cause your reader to prickle with recognition,” he says. Visualise what you want your reader to experience, and then translate what you see in your mind into words on the page. The important part isn't writing enough, but limiting how much you say. “Description begins in the writer's imagination, but should finish in the reader's,” writes King. “The object of fiction isn't grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story.” You should strive to make the reader forget that he or she is reading a story at all. “Language does not always have to wear a tie and lace-up shoes,” writes King. Don't get overly caught up in grammar.Īccording to King, writing is primarily about seduction, not precision. “Paragraphs are almost always as important for how they look as for what they say,” says King.ĩ. You should also pay attention to your paragraphs, so that they flow with the turns and rhythms of your story. ![]() Adverbs are worst after “he said” and “she said” - those phrases are best left unadorned. “Symbolism exists to adorn and enrich, not to create an artificial sense of profundity,” writes King.Īs King emphasises several times in his memoir, “the adverb is not your friend.” In fact, he believes that “the road to hell is paved with adverbs” and compares them to dandelions that ruin your lawn. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.” Furthermore, don't use symbols unless necessary. He compares this mistake to dressing up a household pet in evening clothes - both the pet and the owner are embarrassed, because it's completely excessive.Īs iconic businessman David Ogilvy writes in a memo to his employees, “Never use jargon words like reconceptualise, demassification, attitudinally, judgementally. “One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones,” says King. Writing a first draft is “completely raw, the sort of thing I feel free to do with the door shut - it's the story undressed, standing up in nothing but its socks and undershorts.” You should maintain total privacy between you and your work. King advises, “Write with the door closed rewrite with the door open.” Put your desk in the corner of the room, and eliminate all possible distractions, from phones to open windows. Writing should be a fully intimate activity. When writing, disconnect from the rest of the world. Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world.” Writers should be like archaeologists, excavating for as much of the story as they can find.Ħ. ![]() King says, “Stories are found things, like fossils in the ground. When tackling difficult issues, make sure you dig deeply. It's what I have.” You can't please all of your readers all the time, so King advises that you stop worrying. He writes, “If you disapprove, I can only shrug my shoulders. King has definitely come to terms with it. ![]() King used to be ashamed of what he wrote, especially after receiving angry letters accusing him of being bigoted, homophobic, murderous, and even psychopathic.īy the age of 40, he realised that every decent writer has been accused of being a waste of talent. “If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered anyway,” he writes. Don't waste time trying to please people.Īccording to King, rudeness should be the least of your concerns. “Optimism is a perfectly legitimate response to failure.”ģ. And when you fail, King suggests that you remain positive. “Stopping a piece of work just because it's hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea,” he writes. Oftentimes, you have to continue writing even when you don't feel like it.
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