“On Writing”: A Book by Stephen King
A few years ago I read “On Writing” by Stephen King and he was incredibly honest about how difficult it is to strike a balance between life and this creative process — it led him to turn to drugs — it was not painted as a bed of roses but a process that he had to sort out with much strength.
His memoir of the craft was very open and honest — it reminded me that even writers who find success early and repeatedly, still struggle with the same demons.
Creativity is often described as a messy process — I explored some of this research on creativity in a prior career as an education writer, and it is an accurate representation of the creative unfolding. Research shows that creativity can be taught and learned, much like a skill if practiced and honed — that is the good news. Creativity takes discipline. As with any other skill in life, creativity takes practice.
Creative processes are also tied to emotion. The creative process can be painful, elating, and exhausting- yet it can also prove the most beautiful thing to find meaning in life.
On this rollercoaster journey, I find that it is important to learn deeply about the process to add some guard rails, rather than constantly free fall. These cycles of writing, rewriting and doubting our ability can lead to the death of ideas and/or confidence — They can kill a writing project before it’s complete. And maybe sometimes that is ok, but the important thing is to not let the process of writing die. For this reason, I turn to expert writers for specific tools. King discusses one tool readily available — that of daily connection with other writers through reading. He talks about this feeding his creative process:
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“The real importance of reading is that it creates an ease and intimacy with the process of writing; one comes to the country of the writer with one’s papers and identification pretty much in order. Constant reading will pull you into a palace (a mind-set, if you like the phrase) where you can write eagerly and without self-consciousness. It also offers you a constantly growing knowledge of what has been done and what hasn’t, what is trite and what is fresh, what works and what just lies there dying (or dead) on the page.” -Stephen King
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“Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons why you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It’s not just a question of how-to, you see; it’s also a question of how much to. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of writing will help you with the how. You can learn only by doing.” -Stephen King, On Writing
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My favorite part here is what I know from being a prior teacher — we learn most by doing, by making mistakes. Therefore, writing does require us to allow a bit of freedom to make mistakes, to learn and to even fail.
Finally he gives advice about shame.
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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.” -Stephen King
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This feeling of shame and external pressure is one that is especially relatable and raw. It shows us that writing is an exercise in vulnerability. The process is scary and exposes our greatest fears — rejection and worse, repudiation. At the same time, the very nature of the writing is liberating, if we allow ourselves to write the truth, as both Anne Lamott says in “Bird by Bird” and Julia Cameron says in “The Artists’ Way.” In writing, we share our truth with others - and that is a gift to the world. I’ll share more on these women in a future article. But for now, I’ll leave you with my thought on why I write this week — I write simply because when I don’t write I feel like I’m drowning.
Writing makes my life better — I know this because when I am not writing my life has less meaning. Defining myself as a writer is difficult, but I write because it is a part of me I never want to lose. When I write — it opens a place in me I never want to leave. And this week, I realized something really special — I never go there alone. I write on the wings of writers. I am held up by their words.
Highly recommend reading Stephen King’s book in it’s entirety.
