“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
Work
"If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write."<p>In 1999, Stephen King began to write about his craft -- and his life. By midyear, a widely reported accident jeopardized the survival of both. And in his months of recovery, the link between writing and living became more crucial than ever.<p>Rarely has a book on writing been so clear, so useful, and so revealing. <i>On Writing</i> begins with a mesmerizing account of King's childhood and his uncannily early focus on writing to tell a story. A series of vivid memories from adolescence, college, and the struggling years that led up to his first novel, <i>Carrie,</i> will afford readers a fresh and often very funny perspective on the formation of a writer. King next turns to the basic tools of his trade -- how to sharpen and multiply them through use, and how the writer must always have them close at hand. He takes the reader through crucial aspects of the writer's art and life, offering practical and inspiring advice on everything from plot and character development to work habits and rejection. <p>Serialized in the <i>New Yorker</i> to vivid acclaim, <i>On Writing</i> culminates with a profoundly moving account of how King's overwhelming need to write spurred him toward recovery, and brought him back to his life.<p>Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, <i>On Writing</i> will empower -- and entertain -- everyone who reads it.
Quotes
Showing 1-24 of 43
Stephen King
Canonical work source
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
“you can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.”
“I am, when you stop to think of it, a member of a fairly select group: the final handful of American novelists who learned to read and write before they learned to eat a daily helping of vid...”
“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
“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, whi...”
“There's an old rule of theater that goes, 'If there's a gun on the mantel in Act I, it must go off in Act III.' The reverse is also true.”
“Reading takes time, and the glass teat takes too much of it.”
“Words have weight.”
“If you're just starting out as a writer, you could do worse than strip your television's electric plug-wire, wrap a spike around it, and then stick it back into the wall. See what blows, and...”
“The rest of it - and perhaps the best of it - is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you're brave enough to start, you will.”
“Story is honorable and trustworthy; plot is shifty, and best kept under house arrest.”
“The idea that creative endeavor and mind-altering substances are entwined is one of the great pop-intellectual myths of our time.”
“Reading at meals is considered rude in polite society, but if you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second-to-least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite so...”
“A boy who once wiped his ass with poison ivy probably doesn't belong in a smart people's club.”
“As a young man just beginning to publish some short fiction in the t&a magazines, I was fairly optimistic about my chances of getting published; I knew that I had some game, as the basketbal...”
“Almost everyone can remember losing his or her virginity, and most writers can remember the first book he/she put down thinking: I can do better than this. Hell, I am doing better than this!...”
“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”
“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 y...”
“To write is human, to edit is divine.”
“One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, working for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones. This is like dress...”
“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 dress...”
“If you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second-to-least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthf...”