On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

by Stephen King

I want to suggest that to write to your best abilities, it behooves you to construct your own toolbox and then build up enough muscle so you can carry it with you. Then, instead of looking at a hard job and getting discouraged, you will perhaps seize the correct tool and get immediately to work.

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. This is like dressing up a household pet in evening clothes. The pet is embarrassed and the person who committed this act of premeditated cuteness should be even more embarrassed.

Remember that the basic rule of vocabulary is use the first word that comes to your mind, if it is appropriate and colorful.

I would argue that the paragraph, not the sentence, is the basic unit of writing—the place where coherence begins and words stand a chance of becoming more than mere words.

If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.

The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor.

If possible, there should be no telephone in your writing room, certainly no TV or videogames for you to fool around with.

Plot is, I think, the good writer’s last resort and the dullard’s first choice. The story which results from it is apt to feel artificial and labored.

The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.