Overcoming Fear in Writing

Another amazing article that teaches writers to become not only better on paper, but in who they are…  

I love Stephen King, I think most people do. While some of his novels are too much for me, they all are expertly crafted and they show a spotlight into the mind of a true genius. 

He has refused to stay true to his typecast, and has frequently published work which doesn’t belong to the genre he became famous for.

I love this because I write all over the map. I write crime drama, romance, rockstar series, and have upcoming projects in military dramas and young adult. I think that is what makes me a better writer, the ability to have variety in my imagination. To bring you stories that tell you a little something different about me each time, rather than a similar storyline rewritten fifteen different ways.

Check out the article here or below:

What writing lessons can Stephen King teach us?

You’d think after many years studying King’s fiction and career I’d be well placed to answer. But as I chased round my mind for a list I could share with you here, it finally dawned on me that all other lessons disintegrate, like so many vampires caught out by the morning sun, when compared with the one key lesson I’ve learned and continue to practice daily.

He taught me to write without fear.

You may find it a little strange that, in my search for a teacher of fearless writing, I would turn to an author renowned for manifesting a state of abject terror in his readers. A teacher of fearful writing, perhaps, but not fearless. However, during the last three and a half years that I have spent researching King (reading articles, tracking down old interviews, transcribing archived documents), I’ve been struck time and time again, by his bravery, by his willingness to tackle new challenges and by his approach to writing, often from new and frequently surprising directions.

For example:

He has refused to stay true to his typecast, and has frequently published work which doesn’t belong to the genre he became famous for.
He stands up to the literary establishment and demands that his writing is taken seriously.
He experiments with new media.
He will try his hand at just about any kind of fiction: short stories, serial novels, comic books, screenplays, e-novels.
He offers his work up to others for their own creative interpretation.

Writing can be a scary business. Turning up to the page day after day trying to produce something of value, something worthy of both yours and your reader’s attention is often intimidating, sometimes almost crippling. In my own writing I try and choose my words as fearlessly as I can. My touchstones are authenticity, playfulness and audacity, and by keeping these three key words at the forefront of my mind when sitting down to write, I find that I am capable of overcoming my fear of the blank page.