Stephen King’s book On Writing is a very good read. It is targeted towards writers and wanna-be writers, but it is a very inspiring book for anyone.
As bloggers are writers, this book can teach you several lessons and can inspire you in your blogging. Here are the 13 lessons I have picked up from reading Stephen King’s On Writing.
- Just start it. Whatever you plan or wish to do, just start doing it. Take the first step. Start chasing your dream. When you’re brave enough to start, you will be able to succeed and you will make it happen.
- Follow your passion. No matter what people say, always do what you like to do. Stephen King’s family, teachers etc all said that he was wasting his time writing, but he kept going on as he believed in it himself.
- Do it for joy. If there is no joy in it, it’s just no good. Writing is not about making money, getting famous, or making friends. Writing blog posts should be inspired play and it should not feel like work. When you do it for joy, you can do it forever, no matter what.
- Stick to it. Never give up on your dream. No matter how hard it seems. Good writing is the result of thousands of hours that the writer has spent composing and the tens of thousands of hours spent reading compositions of others.
- Don’t be afraid of rejection. Is nobody reading your blog yet? If you really enjoy it, it shouldn’t matter to you. Just keep working on producing new material and work on winning blog readers one by one.
- Find your own writing space. When writing, get rid of the whole world. Find your own writing space, close the door and concentrate. Eliminate all the distractions. Turn off the TV. It will improve the quality of your life, save you a lot of time which you can spend on working on your passion.
- Make it unique. Blend in your own personal knowledge in your writing. What you know makes you unique. You have your own thoughts, interests and concerns. Be brave and tell people what you think and what you know.
- Make your writing reader-friendly. Just by looking at the text you can see if it is going to be easy or hard to read it. Easy stuff contains lots of short paragraphs and a lot of white space.
- Edit yourself. Write a first draft, get away from it for a bit and do something else. Then come back and read it over. Fix the spelling mistakes, and pick up inconsistencies. You need to revise for length. Omit needless words. Cut the bullshit, cut the fluff from your writing. 1st draft – 10% = 2nd draft.
- You cannot please everyone. You can’t please all the readers all the time, you can’t even please some of the readers all the time, but you should always try to please some of the readers some of the time.
- Teach yourself. Forget the classes, the lessons, the seminars… you learn your trade best by putting the effort into it and doing it. The most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself.
- Write a lot. Don’t talk about it, just do it. Your time is valuable and you need to understand that the hours you spend talking about writing is time you don’t spend actually doing it.
- Read a lot. If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time or tools to write either. Everything you read has its own lessons. Reading good stuff helps you aim higher and work harder. You see what can be done, and experience different styles. Reading bad stuff helps you recognize bad things and helps you steer clear of them in your own work.
Learning from the best is a good thing. And Stephen King certainly is one of the best in writing. Pick up Stephen King’s On Writing if you want to be inspired and if you want more details on these 13 lessons. And don’t forget to use what you have learned and put it into practice on your own projects.
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{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Marko,
Thank you very much for the write-up. Excellent and useful tips indeed. And inspiring too!
I’ll tell all my blogger friends to check out your blog!
I appreciate you.
Melvin Neo
@Melvin Neo – Glad you liked it and thanks for spreading the word!
@Lisis – Glad it was inspiring to you, all the best luck with your blog!
@Masked Financier – Definitely a great writer and a great book. First half of the book is about his life and that is where a lot of the motivational advice in this article comes from.
I can’t begin to tell you how many things I like about this post. I guess I can try, though… can’t please everyone, but try to please SOMEone… what you know makes you unique… the most valuable lessons are the ones you teach yourself… I could go on, but you get the idea.
I loved this post because I’m relatively new to blogging, and to anything online, really. Sometimes I find it so overwhelming because there seem to be these pre-determined ways to do things… and those just don’t fit in with my real life very well. So, I’m trying to find my own way to get there… to get to a place where I can help as many people as possible while still maintaining the joys of my non-virtual life.
Anyway, I loved the inspiration. And I’m glad I found you on twitter because I see you have a bunch of useful stuff here.
Marko,
A great post and a real example of how to add value in the information space by taking an excellent piece of work on writing books and showing its relevance to writing blogs.
I’ve read “On Writing” myself and would thoroughly recommend it as a full read – the man is a genius at explaining his motivations and how he got to where he is. In addition to providing a great insight to the man himself.
I’m trying to add value in a similar way by using the principles of Texas Holdem Poker to teach investing. I hope people like it as much as they seem to like your site!
Hey Marko – I have to agree with everyone’s comments. When I started my blog, I did it with a certain purpose in mind. I have started to think that it’s time to change what I’m doing an have a bit more fun with it. You’re 100% right – do it for joy. I have been afraid to expand, but now I’m ready. Thanks!
@Rena – No problem, blogging should be fun!
@Yobe – You should definitely finish it. The second part of the book is only about writing but it includes a very powerful story about Stephen King’s accident and the time after it.
@MJ – Definitely a book to keep and come back to. Goes into many different subjects and not only writing.
@Chris – I always find myself writing in a much more inspired way after reading his books especially. To me it shows how powerful writer he is.
@David Perrey – Too many people just talk about it but never do anything about it. I am glad you started your blog. And Thesis is great, just see how cool my blog is hehe!
Wonderful post. Stephen King’s has always touched my soul with his writing. It’s a pity I never finished reading On Writing, but I will re-start it and make sure I finish it this time. This just emphasizes the fact that to become a better writer, you have to read a lot (and of course write a lot too).
There is a lot of material to draw inspiration from and that can kick-start one’s writing/blogging experience.
I agree, and just wish I hadn’t gotten it from the library since I have often wanted to refer back to specific parts, and now you’ve summed them up for me. Starred in my Google Reader.
Even if you take all the above steps to heart, Stephen King’s book is a great read. He has some really funny stories in there, especially the one about the babysitter. He also goes into more depth as to the reasons why you’d want to do those things above.
I haven’t read “On Writing” in several years, but maybe it would be a good time to read it again.
Say what you will about Stephen King’s stories, but you can’t deny the fact that he’s an exceptional writer. Thanks for the reminder!
Some excellent advice in there. I can’t tell you how long I was about to start a blog, but delayed due to one thing or another. Just get started! And do it for yourself, not because you want fame or attention. If other people like it too, then that’s cool.
And as an aside, you have me looking at Thesis now too.
I’ve always loved Stephen King. I don’t particularly like the horror genre, but I’ve always been in awe of his story telling abilities. It has been a long time since I read “On Writing” but it does seem that you’ve summed most of what I remember quite well.
Hi Marko,
Another good article, i think that Just start it , Stick to it and Don’t be afraid of rejection are the most important advices here and they are the key to and endless writing.
Thanks, see you.
I know a lot of people who talks about starting a blog, but never take actions to actually make one. I blog even when my parents believe I am wasting a lot of time doing “nothing”. Thanks for the great read Marko!
Love this entry, and I agree, espeically with ‘Do it for joy’. I find that if I tell myself, ‘Oh, yeah, I NEED to write about this and that next blog,’ I don’t feel like it. But if I suddenly get the inspiration for a blog entry, I’m thinking, ‘Wow, I can’t wait to get started!’
I can’t believe Stephen King’s telling us to cut out the fluff and bullshit, though — He’s always so wordy and descriptive in all of his novels! And I tend to go on and on with certain blog subjects … Hmm. Think I’ll just fall back on ‘You cannot please everyone’ for this rule.
Hello Marko,
I thought you were from Croatia when I first read your name. Maybe you have some relatives or friends in here? I am from Croatia, land of great people and beautiful sea:).
You are right, Stephen King is an excellent writer. I read few of his books, among other writers. He has good stories and easy writing. And also it is good for practicing my english.
13 lessons – all great, but what I like the most is lesson number 1 (Just start writing). I think that is the most valuable lesson.
Also I would like to say that your blog is cool, very informative, especially for people like myself, who are just starting to put some effort in blogging.
I will definitely consider of buying Stephen King’s On Writing, and I will stay tuned to your blog.
Thanks,
Zoran
My favorite part of King’s book was when his agent called telling him to sit down before delivering the news on Carrie’s advance payment.
Reading your post reminded me of that part, the part when the writer might one day have to sit down and receive news on his career’s first breakthrough success. If it could happen to King, then by all means, why not follow his advice on how he got there, right?
Thanks for the reminder, you’ve definitely been RT-ed and shared on Facebook.
as a creative writer, King’s book on writing is invaluable and I would agree, it is a good read about King’s life and journey as a writer. Great analogy for blog writing.
Hi Marko,
I had seen this book before – but not this awesome summary. Thanks for providing. (I’m working on a new blog training thingy – I’m going to use some of this advice!) Cheers, Jon
Marko,
Fun write up, thanks for sharing. I’ll have to take a look at your recommendation when times allows. Graduate school is demanding. Anyhow, the tips about just jumping in really stuck out to me. As I’ve been eying freelance writing, among other things, or even with my desire to learn photoshop- reading how to, advice and tutorials are fine but nothing beats just getting your hands dirty. Learning as you go and hopefully grow.
Cheers! Appreciate your work here, thanks again for sharing your takeaways!
-Mig
Hi Marko,
I first started reading Stephen King a LONG time ago- roughly 20 years now, doesn’t time fly by!
I read his “On Writing” book about 6 months ago, and just like you I’ve found it to be an invaluable resource- and has really helped me improve my writing & to simply write a lot more too!
thanks for writing this article- I’ve tweeted the link to it as it’s a great resource
I love your review of the book! So many times you find people writing reviews simply to sell something and the review suffers. Excellent job, I need to find a copy of this book. Thanks
Great article! I had wanted to read this book for some time and then sort of forgot about it. I definitely want to read it now after reading your article though. Some really good, and inspiring advice. I love how you’ve read a book on writing (novels presumably?) and looked at it from a blogger’s point of view.
Thanks for all the comments, I appreciate the support!
@Donna Miller – I think it is important for bloggers to be open to different influences and to observe these with the “got to blog about it” mindset. It is a nice way to get an unique perspective that will make your content stand out somewhat.
Great post, I've read the book and really enjoyed it now I have the urge to re read it.
Inspiring blog, great tips.
Definitely a great insight specially for those (my case) that are not full-fledged writers but want to keep our blogging in focus and as attractive as possible to its audience…
Hi Marko,
Another truly inspirational post. It’s an advert for all the lessons you’ve written about here. Thanks for being such a brilliant online source of information and encouragement.
Thanks for the kind words Christine!
Yes,write a lot,I like this sentence,Thank you for your works.
Wow… Thanks for posting this. I’m still new with blogging and still having some resistance. This sure helps a lot!
Wonderful post. Stephen King’s has always touched my soul with his writing. It’s a pity I never finished reading On Writing, but I will re-start it and make sure I finish it this time. This just emphasizes the fact that to become a better writer, you have to read a lot (and of course write a lot too).