Stephen King’s Advice for Writers « Looking for Lola…

[mephestopheles]

http://lookingforlola.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/stephen-kings-advice-for-writers/ (via shareaholic)

5. Never look at a reference book while doing a first draft

You want to write a story? Fine. Put away your dictionary, your encyclopedias, your World Almanac, and your thesaurus. Better yet, throw your thesaurus into the wastebasket. The only things creepier than a thesaurus are those little paperbacks college students too lazy to read the assigned novels buy around exam time. Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule. You think you might have misspelled a word? O.K., so here is your choice: either look it up in the dictionary, thereby making sure you have it right %u2013 and breaking your train of thought and the writer%u2019s trance in the bargain %u2013 or just spell it phonetically and correct it later. Why not? Did you think it was going to go somewhere? And if you need to know the largest city in Brazil and you find you don%u2019t have it in your head, why not write in Miami, or Cleveland? You can check it %u2026 but later. When you sit down to write, write. Don%u2019t do anything else except go to the bathroom, and only do that if it absolutely cannot be put off.

Comments

[sailorhathor.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the book is good and has some great advice in it, but I don't agree that everything any writer says about the process of writing works for every writer. Anyone who says they can make muses punch a clock is either lying or doesn't have muses. And I work with muses. I work when they say it's time, or I don't write at all. That is my personal definition of writer's block.

I know that different words convey different meanings; that's what the thesaurus is for. Because sometimes, your brain gives you 'surprised' when you know you mean something else, and no matter how hard you try, the brainfart keeps you from getting it. Enter the helpful thesaurus. Ah, stunned! That's what I meant! If people abuse that tool, it's not the tool's fault. What King should be saying is stop using a tool when it becomes a crutch; if it's helpful for you, keep it.