Stephen King's "On Writing": Quotes and the Writing Life

King's book gave me so many impressions. It made me want to start reading his novels and those of his wife, Tabitha King. As I read the book, I just kept thinking how Stephen and Tabitha are true #relationship goals. I was in awe of how supportive they are of each other's work. I have only ever heard of married writers with unsuccessful marriages such as that of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Plath is my favorite writer and her life still haunts me to the point that I try my best to avoid anything that reminds me of her life (love life in particular). Either way, it was a pleasure reading about Stephen's relationship with his wife, but I also enjoyed his advice on writing and I found myself agreeing and reflecting on most of it (which is why it took me almost two months to finish the book and this blog post). So, for this post, I will make commentary on some of the quotes that most intrigued me.On the importance of companionship and his wife: 

"And whenever I see a first novel dedicated to a wife (or a husband), I smile and think, There's someone who knows. Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference. They don't have to make speeches. Just believing is usually enough."  (74). 

After reading this, I thought "Stephen King is a hopeless romantic!" I was surprised to find out that he is a hopeless romantic, especially because that is something you probably wouldn’t think a horror writer would be. But to Stephen King, there is lots of love beyond his horror stories. Truth be told, writers don't ask for much (at least I don't), sometimes it's hard for us to start a piece but once we have the support of someone, once someone believes that we can create something worth reading, that is what keeps us writing. After all, Tabitha was the one who encouraged Stephen to continue working on Carrie, his first novel. Besides being one of his most well-known works, Carrie was turned into a movie starring John Travolta. This book reveals the backstory of how he started to write Carrie and how it changed the life of Stephen and his family. 

"My wife is the person in my life who's most likely to say I'm working too hard, it's time to slow down, stay away from that damn PowerBook for a little while, Steve, give it a rest." (267).

He writes about meeting his wife (hint, hint: in a writing class!) As you can probably tell by now, I enjoyed reading anything he had to say about his relationship. Although it’s not necessarily on writing, it’s relevant because writers do need someone, whether it be a muse or a motivator. Behind every successful writer is someone who believes in them. On Writing: 

"The idea that creative endeavor and mind-altering substances are entwined is one of the great pop-intellectual myths of our time. The four twentieth-century writers whose work is most responsible for it are probably Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Sherwood Anderson, and the poet Dylan Thomas." (98). 

In this section, he talks about the writer and substance abuse. Yes, there are studies that creative people are most likely to suffer from addiction or from a mental illness, but that doesn't mean that because you’re an artist that you have to experience it at some point in your life. This, of course, varies on the person and how easy it is to influence them to a lifestyle of addiction.

"It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support-system for art. It's the other way around." (101). 

This quote really hit me because it is something that I have thought about and something that I have spoken about recently with one of my college English professors. With all honesty, I'm conflicted about receiving my Master's. Not because I don't want one, but because I want two. I want to study Special Education, but I would also like an MFA in Creative Writing. I've been thinking about doing my Special Education degree first so once I get a stable job, I can go back to school and work on my writing. My professor even thought that was a wise idea. I know I do want to obtain a CELTA certification and I want to teach ELS students, especially those who have Spanish as their native language. So if anything, that is my first plan before getting my Master’s. Post-graduation life is full of decisions and financial planning.

"Put your vocabulary on the top shelf of your toolbox, and don't make any conscious effort to improve it. (You'll be doing that as you read, of course. . . but that comes later.) 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." (117). 

This quote also really hit me because it is something that I keep on wondering about. I always ask myself, “Is my writing good enough? Is my vocabulary advanced enough? I have a degree, shouldn’t I have stronger words for everything I write about?” After reading this, sometimes the words you have are enough. When you can’t find the right word, (which happens a lot) you will go in search of it, whether it’s in a dictionary or in a thesaurus, or in a magazine that happens to be right in front of you. Of course, there is nothing wrong with learning new words, but you don’t have to find a word that you might think is impressive and then forget the meaning of it the next day. Really, your vocabulary changes and expands over time as you write and read (mostly read).

"The object of fiction isn't grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story. . . to make him/her forget, whenever possible, that he/ she is reading a story at all." (134). Once again, it’s always the grammar that gets me (and I’m an English major). I always need to remember to focus on the story before fixing grammar and editing. I think it’s best to just write and do not care about grammar or spelling (at least for the first draft), write your heart out and once the story seems clear to you, then you can focus on grammar and all writing mechanics.

"The most interesting situations can usually be expressed as a What-if question." (169). 

Ah! The origin of most ideas, the "What if" question. I learned about this in my writing classes and it is true. The question that keeps the plot going is "what if." Sometimes our ideas are based on our lives, on the decisions, we decided not to make, but when we ask "what if?" the possibilities are endless. They may inspire us to create a story as we daydream or for a novel, story, poem, etc. “What if” also leads to the exploration of ideas whether they are meant for creative writing or not.

"This first draft- the All-Story draft- should be written with no help (or interference) from anyone else." (209). 

I do somewhat agree with this, although for someone who is writing their first novel it may be tempting to ask someone to make sure if they are working on their novel correctly. There is no right way to write a novel. I mean if there was, wouldn’t all novels be the same? What does exist though, are guidelines, methods, and articles for writing a novel. Sure, you can use them to help guide you but your book should mainly be your work of creation.

"With six weeks' worth of recuperation time, you'll also be able to see any glaring holes in the plot or character development." (213). 

This may be advice you may or may not want to take, it really is optional. I do think I will use this in the future though, and I noticed that I have been using this method (except lasting over six weeks most of the time) for my poetry. I sometimes go back on some poems that I have written over a year ago and either change them or abandon them (it’s a poet thing). I think you can also use this method when you feel uninspired after writing something, take some time off and then come back to it (whether it’s in a week or in a year, that’s your choice).

"Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well." (269). 

I think this is the perfect quote to end the post (and it was to end the book). In the end, if we are writing for the right reasons, it is because we enjoy it and we want to improve. Maybe you could have used writing to get lucky with a person, but if you are serious about writing, you do it despite the rewards that are given. There are some, but they are hard to obtain, and they do require a lot of hard work. This also reminds me that yesterday was National Day on Writing, and this book has been one of the many reminders on #whyiwrite. 

I don't know about you but I'm feeling 22......

For my 22nd birthday, I was lucky enough to explore the American Writers Museum with my friends. Embarrassingly enough, I was late to my own celebration, and although a couple of friends were not able to meet up with us that day, we enjoyed our time with each other nonetheless. As soon as I stepped inside the building, I saw all my friends united and they hugged me despite the fact that I was late. We were all very confused with the levels of the building. Turns out the museum is small and only occupies one floor in that building. There are other offices and even medical facilities which we awkwardly discovered as we were playing with the elevator buttons. Once we got off on the correct floor, we received a friendly welcome. We got in line to purchase our tickets (I messaged everyone beforehand to bring their school ID!). With my Student ID, I paid $8. This is the same admission fee for seniors. Kids are free! So if you know a young one who loves literature, this would be an amazing place to bring them! If you are not a student, senior, or a kid, then regular admission is $12. The museum is opened Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10-5, and on Thursday from 10-8. If you want more information click here.

Right after we paid, there was a wall of complimentary bookmarks. Truth is, I grabbed more than one bookmark. It was so hard to choose among many writers! There were bookmarks of Hemingway, Dickinson, Thoreau, Fitzgerald, just to name a few. I'm a sucker for bookmarks, and I was even more excited as I explored the museum and found out that I was able to personalize my own bookmark! (it was e-mailed to me and I had to print it out. I chose Sylvia Plath books in case you're curious). One of my favorite things about the museum was the wall of words. There were two projectors by the ceiling that filled the wall with words that created poems and quotes from different writers. I spent a good time chatting with my cousin and my friend while we sat down to watch the wall display change. Below is a picture of me standing next to the wall.

Besides the wall, I loved how interactive the museum was. It was like a literary "museum of science and industry" for adults, but of course, kids would enjoy this museum too. They actually have a section dedicated to children's books. We had so much fun playing a "madlibs-style" poetry game, in which we had to guess the words in a poem. That game had my favorite poem, "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop. I learned that day that I do not know the poem well enough, unfortunately. We took the most pictures at the section where they had the old-fashioned typewriters and the modern ones (a laptop). Below is a picture of me pretending to write but actually trying to figure out how to work that typewriter.

I joked with my friends that if I was a writer back then, I would have given up already. There were different styles of typewriters and I struggled with each one. If anyone that works at the museum is reading this, please put instructions next to the typewriters! At the top,^ some of my friends have figured out how to use the typewriter. One of my friends wrote a poem about my birthday and another one wrote a poem to his girlfriend.

To tell you the truth, it was not until college that I realized that there are people in this world that are like me. When I was in high school, I was the weird kid who read psychology and philosophy and would join the drama club every year. But now I have friends who might not share all my interests but have a strong appreciation for literature. I have friends who I can yell "BAE!" with when we see Gwendolyn Brooks (who was in the museum and very much deserved to be there), and friends who I can talk about confessional poetry to and will not get annoyed or weirded out. I'm finally 22 and I have wonderful friends who support my writing goals and are on their own literary journey as well. That being said, if you have a friend who reads, you have a friend worth keeping.