One of the most admired and prolific authors of modern times, Stephen King has always been generous with his fans and aspiring authors by giving lots of interviews on his writing methods. In 2000, he published his opus On Writing, adding to his list of best-sellers. The book has been a favorite of writing workshops and writers for its concrete advice.
But you don’t have to be working on a novel in order to use King’s advice. It applies to the broad spectrum of writing, from poetry to fiction to essays.
Improve your work with these bits of advice from “the King”:
Opening line
“An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.” Peaking the reader’s interest is essential for any piece of writing. For essays, quotes, interesting anecdotes, shocking statistics are all introduction tactics aimed to lure the reader in. Hook them with your opening and you’ve done half your work already.
Don’t use passive voice
Passive voice is a momentum killer. You want to build up the reader’s interest by telling them the story, whether it’s an actual story or an essay. You want to take them step by step, but passive voice adds extra steps and tires the reader out. Would you rather read: “Jack threw the ball to Tim” or “Tim had the ball thrown to him by Jack”? Get the point?
Get rid of distractions
Today it’s nearly impossible to get five minutes of silence. Cell phones and the internet have made sure of that. When you sit down to write, turn off your phone and just write. Don’t open your Facebook page or check your email. Don’t tweet, don’t chat, don’t Instagram and don’t Google. Give yourself space from all of those things and concentrate without any noise but that of your own thoughts.
One word at a time
A lot of students feel anxiety about writing an essay. What will they say? Will they be able to express themselves well? Can they get their point across? Anxiety doesn’t help anything. Just start to write. Word by word. You can always edit later.
Read a lot
Reading is training for writing. The more you read, the more styles, techniques and ideas you’ll have and, logically, the better writer you’ll be. Pay attention to different writers. What makes someone good and someone mediocre? What’s the difference between them? Read, analyze and eventually, write.
Develop your own style
As you read, you’ll likely start picking up some styles and habits of the writers you most admire. Don’t fall into that trap. Nobody ever got famous imitating Hemingway or Woolf. Take the tools you learned from them but begin to use them to craft your own writing style. Don’t mimic. Create. Write like yourself. You’re the only one who can.
Give yourself space from your work
Never hit send immediately after finishing your first draft. Let the words sit for a while and go do something else. If it’s an essay you’re writing, give it at least a day. Come back to it and read it through. The errors should start jumping out at you.
Don’t be afraid of big changes
If you sit down to edit and you find that you have some new ideas that are better than the old ideas, then by all means, make the necessary changes. It will be a much better paper if you write your new workable idea than if you try to rework an idea that you’re not sold on in the first place.
Use these writing tips from the master to write better, more original essays. Happy writing!