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Stephen King

Stephen King Quotes

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Famous Stephen King Quotes

“A friend came to visit James Joyce one day and found the great man sprawled across his writing desk in a posture of utter despair. James, what’s wrong?' the friend asked. 'Is it the work?' Joyce indicated assent without even raising his head to look at his friend. Of course it was the work; isn’t it always? How many words did you get today?' the friend pursued. Joyce (still in despair, still sprawled facedown on his desk): 'Seven.' Seven? But James… that’s good, at least for you.' Yes,' Joyce said, finally looking up. 'I suppose it is… but I don’t know what order they go in!”

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Author:Stephen King
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“Let's get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”

WritingTwoIdeasStoriesShowsSeemsTogetherJobsSunClearOne ThingSkyRight NowEmptyNo IdeaIslandsSomething NewBuriedSailingGood StoryDump
Book:On writing: a memoir of the craft
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“Some of this book—perhaps too much—has been about how I learned to do it. Much of it has been about how you can do it better. 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. Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.”

IfsShouldWritingHas BeensArtBookEnoughWaterCan DoCreativeToo MuchMagicDrinkFilledBraveSlipsPermissionYou Can Do ItCreative ArtFilled UpWater Of Life
Author:Stephen King
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“I have spent a good many years since―too many, I think―being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction or poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that's all.”

IfsThinkingFeelsWritingTryingYearsHas BeensGivenLinesFictionTalentPaintI RealizedAshamedFortyAccusedWriting LifeGod Given Talents
Book:On Writing
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“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.”

ShouldWritingLittlesPersonsLongBitsCan DoLittle BitClothesDressesCommittedEveningAshamedPetBad ThingsHouseholdEmbarrassedVocabularyDressingsDressing UpLong WordsCuteness
Book:On Writing
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“As always, the blessed relief of starting, a feeling that was like falling into a hole filled with bright light. As always, the glum knowledge that he would not write as well as he wanted to write. As always the terror of not being able to finish, of accelerating into a brick wall. As always, the marvelous joyful nervy feeling of journey begun.”

WritingWellsFeelingsLightAbleWantedFallFearJourneyWallBlessedFilledStartingTerrorHolesReliefJoyfulMarvelousBricksBright LightsBrick Wall
Book:Misery: A Novel
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“Once I start work on a project, I don’t stop and I don’t slow down unless I absolutely have to. If I don’t write every day, the characters begin to stale off in my mind – they begin to seem like characters instead of real people. The tale’s narrative cutting edge starts to rust and I begin to lose my hold on the story’s plot and pace. Worst of all, the excitement of spinning something new begins to fade. The work starts to feel like work, and for most writers that is the smooch of death.”

PeopleIfsFeelsWritingMindRealCharacterStoriesSeemsLosesCuttingWorstProjectsEdgesTalesNarrativeExcitementPlotSomething NewPaceFadesSlow DownSpinningStaleRustCutting Edge
Author:Stephen King
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“The idea that the creative endeavor and mind-altering substances are entwined is one of the great pop-intellectual myths of our time. Substance abusing writers are just substance abusers — common garden variety drunks and druggies, in other words. Any claims that the drugs and alcohol are necessary to dull a finer sensibility are just the usual self-serving bullshit. I've heard alcoholic snowplow drivers make the same claim, that they drink to still the demons.”

WritingMindStillsIdeasSelfCommonCreativeHeardDrinkDrugIntellectualGardenClaimsPopsMythAlcoholVarietySubstanceOur TimeDemonDullServingDriversEndeavorUsualSensibilityBullshitAlcoholicsDrugs And AlcoholSelf ServingAbusersEntwinedDruggies
Author:Stephen King
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“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”

WritingFilmHellWrittenHorrorIntentionFilmmakerMovieFilmmakingEpicEditingBe CreativeCreative WritingWriting AdviceWriting A BookSkullsGood IntentionsBishopsGoodwillSisterhoodHeaven And HellGreat WritersWriters And WritingFiction WritersAdjectivesBook WritingWriting FictionScreenwritingWriting By WritersGreat WritingReading And WritingDetoursSwedishWork In ProgressRooftopsThose In NeedWriters ReadingWriting And ReadingInspiration To WriteFamous WritersReading WritingAdverbsFunny Bumper StickerCreative WritersWriting From Famous AuthorsArtists And WritersProverbs WisdomWriting WordsEditing And WritingBad IntentionsHeaven HellWriting And ThinkingPaved RoadsWriting Humor
Author:Stephen King
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“If you can remember all the accessories that go with your best outfit, the contents of your purse, the starting lineup of the New York Yankees or the Houston Oilers, or what label "Hang On Sloopy" by The McCoys was on, you are capable of remembering the differences between a gerund (verb form used as a noun) and a participle (verb form used as an adjective).”

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Book:On Writing
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“Must you write complete sentences each time, every time? Perish the thought. If your work consists only of fragments and floating clauses, the Grammar Police aren't going to come and take you away. Even William Strunk, that Mussolini of rhetoric, recognized the delicious pliability of language. "It is an old observation," he writes, "that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric." Yet he goes on to add this thought, which I urge you to consider: "Unless he is certain of doing well, [the writer] will probably do best to follow the rules."”

IfsWritingWellsSometimesCertainLanguageGoes OnPoliceAddSentencesObservationUrgesRhetoricFloatingDeliciousGrammarFragmentsDisregardClauses
Book:On Writing
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