Stephen King, John D. Macdonald And Writing

[Christine62]

In the introduction to Stephen King's Night Shift, John D. MacDonald wrote probably the best little essay on writing I've ever read.
He said:
"The only way you learn how to write is by writing...Stephen King always wanted to write and so he writes." "Because that's the way it is done. Because there is not other way to do it. Not one other way."
"Compulsive diligence is almost enough. But not quite. You have to have a taste for words. Gluttony. You have to want to roll in them. You have to read millions of them by other people. You read everything with grinding envy or weary contempt."
"...you have to know yourself so well that you begin to know other people. A piece of us is in every person we can ever meet."
"Okay, then. Stupendous diligence plus word-love, plus empathy and out of that can come, painfully, some objectivity."
"It comes so painfully and so slowly"
"You send books out into the world and it's very hard to shuck them out of the spirit. They are tangled children, trying to make their way inspite of the handicaps you impose on them. I would give a pretty to get them all home and take one more swing at everyone of them. Page by page. Digging and cleaning, brushing and furbishing. Tidying up."
"Diligence, word-lust, empathy equal growing objectivity and then what? Story. Story. Dammit, story!"
"Story is something happening to someone you have been led to care about. It can happen in any demension--physical, mental, spiritual--and in combination of all those dimensions."
Night Shift, Doubleday & Company 1976

When I first read this, I found myself reading it over and over--especially the part about "Digging and cleaning, brushing and furbishing. Tidying up. "
I've never been a very "objective writer" first because I was too young and stupid and then because I was so manic I thought every word I wrote was gold from the gods.
Writing comes easy. I don't struggle. I never have to ask myself "Oh what am I going to write next?" It flows like a river. Or it comes to me completely all in one frame like a picture.
Because it is so very easy for me. I take it for granted. I pull the shiny stones out of the ore of my mind and dust them off and hold them to the sun and say " Look what I did."
What did I do, really? Nothing. But what if I took these stones and with the time and precision of a gem-cutter made them perfect? King is a gem-cutter. He writes, rewrites, revises and shines and as a result, everything he writes sparkles. I always knew this reading his short stories and after reading Lisey's Story, It, Hearts In Atlantis, 11-22-63 in quick succession the last couple of months I discovered each a priceless gem. With the patience and skill he takes his time with his language, character and stories--and he makes me want to do the same.

 

[Kurben]

Thats right. My problem as a writer is that i'm a bit too lazy. I can finish the tale and i think its good but I seldom have the patience to go over it again with a little critical eye. I'm bad at polishing put writing for me is a thing i do because its fun. Never thought i would earn a cent on it. When the story is over i can go back and read and feel content but i can't go back and change because it wouild be better that way than the original way i wrote. So i guess i'm not really a writer. You seem to have a lot more energy than I. Congratulations!

 

[Mr Nobody]

When I first read this, I found myself reading it over and over--especially the part about "Digging and cleaning, brushing and furbishing. Tidying up. "
1 I've never been a very "objective writer" first because I was too young and stupid and then because I was so manic I thought every word I wrote was gold from the gods.
2 Writing comes easy. I don't struggle. I never have to ask myself "Oh what am I going to write next?" It flows like a river. Or it comes to me completely all in one frame like a picture.
3 Because it is so very easy for me. I take it for granted. I pull the shiny stones out of the ore of my mind and dust them off and hold them to the sun and say " Look what I did."
What did I do, really? Nothing. But what if I took these stones and with the time and precision of a gem-cutter made them perfect?
4 King is a gem-cutter. He writes, rewrites, revises and shines and as a result, everything he writes sparkles. I always knew this reading his short stories and after reading Lisey's Story, It, Hearts In Atlantis, 11-22-63 in quick succession the last couple of months I discovered each a priceless gem. With the patience and skill he takes his time with his language, character and stories--and he makes me want to do the same.

OK...
1) "I thought every word...was gold from the gods."
Don't we all get that? I know I do. I'm sitting there, tapping or scribbling away, and on the best days I'm thinking "Hey! This is brilliant! Gold, man! Pure gold!"
Except, of course, it isn't. I can go back to it the next day, or even after just a couple of hours, and go the other way ("Why am I wasting my time? It's sh*t. I'm sh*t!" and variations on the old 'Waah-mbulance' theme). Naturally, there are times when somewhere between 70-90% of it is usable, or is at least salvageable. As a rule, provided the first draft gets at what I meant and is something like 75% 'there', I'm a very happy bunny indeed.

2) Oh man. I remember those days. lol.
I've started to struggle a lot more.These days, I get the mind-pictures, and sometimes I get a line or two, or even entire paragraphs, swirling and forming almost unbidden in my head. But you know what often happens? They scatter as soon as I pick up a pen. So I put then pen down and wander away again, in a darker mood than before (because writing's a need, isn't it? It's not a want, though ideally the wanting is there, but it's something you just have to do), and what do you know, but the words start gathering again, like...sentient ducks, all too aware that they're at a shoot.
But you stick at it, and a time or two you nail a few of the suckers, and all the while you're thinking/hoping that, before long, it'll get back to being like shooting the rapids instead.

3) Look what did. Nothing? Everything. A good many people have ideas - maybe even everyone does. The fact you can (and do) pull them from the ore (or the stream, if writing flows like water, right?) is more than a good many can do, or can be bothered to try to do. Try not to take it for granted too much: any river can dry up. (And whatever you do, don't analyse it or learn about it too much! My pet theory is that that's where my broken flow stems from.)

4) From what I read in On Writing, and judging from some his endings, I'd say both opposites are true - he both does and does not take his time to craft everything to (unattainable...by anyone, by definition) perfection. And only he (or maybe Ms Mod) could say how much stamping around, swearing, etc he does or how many false starts he makes while experimenting with starting POVs, focalisations, overall structure and the like. It's also worth bearing in mind that not every can (or wants to) be as prolific or work as hard as SK does - though there's nothing wrong with wanting to emulate it because, as we know, writing is/can be hard work.

 

[Mr Nobody]

Spot the omitted word. Should be "3) Look what I did", of course.

 

[Bryan James]

If you have read a lot, the writing part is easy. I have a hard time setting my hooks into the most important part...the story.

I am blessed (cursed) with a constantly running miasmatic dialogue in my head. Much is a-swirl in me noggin. I don't want to let it all out though; I need to sort, pick, and choose.

Because the novelty of a padded room would wear off quickly, methinks.

Writing is easy. Story is hard.