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Stephen King -- "2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%"
54 sats \ 3 comments \ @billytheked 12 Nov the_stacker_muse
Excerpted below are a few passages from the Stphen King memoir, On Writing. I have never read the book, but I have always thought of King as one of our generation's greatest professional writers. Just look at the impressive repertoire of King adaptations.
It could be worthwhile to wade a little deeper into his personal discussions on the craft.
King is largely responsible for my love of literature, namely, an old paperback copy of The Green Mile that I picked up one summer during my youth, consumed voraciously and then proceeded to be disappointed by the film.

On sharing your work

Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. Your stuff starts out being just for you, in other words, but then it goes out. Once you know what the story is and get it right — as right as you can, anyway — it belongs to anyone who wants to read it. Or criticize it.

Killing your darlings

Mostly when I think of pacing, I go back to Elmore Leonard, who explained it so perfectly by saying he just left out the boring parts. This suggest cutting to speed the pace, and that’s what most of us end up having to do (kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings)...I got a scribbled comment that changed the way I rewrote my fiction once and forever. Jotted below the machine-generated signature of the editor was this mot: “Not bad, but PUFFY. You need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%. Good luck.”

Talent

Practice isn't painful when you love what you do. Talent renders the whole idea of rehearsal meaningless; when you find something at which you are talented, you do it (whatever it is) until your fingers bleed or your eyes are ready to fall out of your head. Even when no one is listening (or reading, or watching), every outing is a bravura performance, because you as the creator are happy. Perhaps even ecstatic. 1
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What are your favourite King stories?

Footnotes

  1. Excerpts taken from, On Writing, by Stephen King. ↩
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11 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 12 Nov
Practice isn't painful when you love what you do. Talent renders the whole idea of rehearsal meaningless; when you find something at which you are talented, you do it (whatever it is) until your fingers bleed or your eyes are ready to fall out of your head. Even when no one is listening (or reading, or watching), every outing is a bravura performance, because you as the creator are happy. Perhaps even ecstatic
As a teacher, I often wonder about this. Because I believe it, but I am not sure everyone has found, (or even can find), something which they are so passionate about.
The other side of the coin is a saying often attributed to Mark Cuban or Malcolm Gladwell or some popular influencer along those lines. Which is that you need to put in the time to get good at something, then when you are good at something is when you'll love it.
So, while those two ideas may seem contradictory, I think they are actually consistent. If you find your passion, it won't feel like work (though it may cause you suffering), but you may not be able to find your passion if you never work at anything.
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30 sats \ 0 replies \ @billytheked OP 12 Nov
One of the coaches at my gym likes to say, "boxing is easy."
But I think he means something similar to what you're saying, i.e., putting in the work, training, learning a new skill, etc., is the hard part. After that, then you are boxing, and then it is easy. You have to spend countless hours and time calibrating before you can out yourself on autopilot.
As for "talent," maybe we should be asking ourselves, what's the thing from which you can achieve the best results with the least amount of struggle. Maybe that's your talent. Talent still needs cultivating, but knowing yours is like knowing where the best soil is for planting.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei 13 Nov
I think adhering to a writing routine isn’t as challenging as bringing out your authentic voice. I wonder to what extent Stephen King had to manipulate his writing style in order to make sure his stories sold and his audience continued to support him
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