Stephen King On Writing~A Memoir of the Craft

Plot Driven vs Character Driven ala Stephen King

I have mentioned often enough here that I’ve never read a ‘How-To’ book on writing.

Or rather, I never read one until I got published.

I did do other things. I took on-line classes. I belonged to a critique group. I entered contests. So I studied, just not by reading books on how to write.
(I think it’s fair to interject here that it took me TEN YEARS to get a book published so I’m probably better used as a bad example in this case. Maybe if I’d read a book I would have sped things up.)

I’m going to talk just a bit today about the one book on writing I have read.
On Writing ~ A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King.

Now, let me issue a warning. This is a totally secular book. It’s fascinating and most of it just confirmed things I’d already learned, so I’m not telling you to run out and get it. And if you DO, well, it’s written by Stephen King so be AFRAID.

Still, it’s a really solid craft book, interwoven with a biography of King’s weird life. And he didn't get rich overnight. The man really struggled. He worked so hard for so long. He wrote nights and weekends while teaching school, was really poor. The moment when he sold his first book, Carrie, is oh so sweet. He earned $2500 and any aspiring writer is right there with him, feeling the elation, the thrill. And King captures it beautifully. Then a year later when he sells the paperback rights to Carrie for $450,000, it’s just perfectly written and the thrill is one we can all imagine.

So, with the caveat that I really believe the best way to learn to write is to READ great books--I mean NOVELS, not how-to books, and keep writing yourself, finish a book and start a new one. Apply everything you’ve learned. Keep at it… I will tell you what I took away from King’s book.

I’ve read 2 1/2 half books by Stephen King--3 1/2 if you count the memoir. I read Carrie, Firestarter and half of Misery. It's just not my thing. I remember someone saying once, about Cujo, that if you want to see a woman and child terrorized by a mad dog for hours upon end, nobody does it better.
Like I said, not my thing.
My gut level reaction to King’s success is that he was first. Simply put, he was first. He tapped into the horror genre, created it really, and his real accomplishment was getting away with the edgiest horror of anyone ever to that date.

And the reason he got away with it is: character. (one woman's opinion)
He writes truly mentally scarring horror, but he does it with such a gift for character that we forgive him. (well, maybe not all of us...)

The perfect example of this is Carrie. I don’t know if any of you have ever read it, but many have probably seen the movie. The key to Carrie is that Carrie, when she finally snaps, kills EVERYONE. Get that? Everyone dies. Those who have been bad to her and those who have tried to protect her. She just brings fire and brimstone down on everyone’s head in an out of control murderous rampage.

And after she does all of that, we still care about her.

And that’s the secret. King creates a character we know so intimately that we know why she did this and we can still root for her, hurt for her, wish happiness for her.

That’s his genius. That and unrelenting gore.

And yet in his memoir he talks about story. Story is fundamental. You’ve got to have a story to tell. We talk about book length conflict a lot but to me that is a nuts and bolts way of saying we need to have a STORY to tell. Forget the mechanics and tell me your story.

I think of myself as a storyteller. People ask me if I write plot driven or character driven books and to me that’s another nuts and bolts statement.
Those two are inseparable.
Let me repeat that.
Those two are inseparable.

A better way to put it (and aren’t we all always looking for a better way to put into words something that is just fundamentally HARD to put into words) A better way to say it is:
Internal conflict is character
External conflict is story.
Your book needs both. Your characters are defined by how they react, so you create them to react as you want them to. And their reactions set into the plot creates the external conflict--or STORY.

I’ll add here that the HALF book I read, Misery struck me as this:

Getting in trouble James Caan-tortured Escape

I read until I got the idea. Skipped 300 pages of torture, then read the end.
I may have missed nuances, but I always figured I got the drift. And James Caan, that's the movie, I know. I watched about half of that, too.

Tell a story.
What is your story?
The heart of the 30 word blurb is your story.
Most writer's block stems, I believe, from not knowing what story you want to tell.
So, anyone want to tell me their story? You can go on longer than 30 words. And you don't have to tell me at all, but you need to know it yourself.
Have at it.

http://www.maryconnealy.com/
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