Writing Tips by Stephen King: Infographic and Video

I know that this post is less than a year old, but I still think the infographic is pretty cool. Plus, I found a funny short video from the Late Show with Stephen Colbert that is worth sharing. No matter how far away the dream of successful career writing might be, Stephen King is able to invite us to the desk where we actually write.

I’ve blogged from time to time about the importance of Stephen King‘s On Writing. It is a funny, moving, flawed, and priceless resource for those who dream of having their journal sketches become hardcover books.

On Writing is one of the books that changed my life.

It is also, I think, a pretty good resource for anyone who taps out their living on a keyboard–from storytellers to journalists, from preachers to teachers, from bloggers to speechwriters, from scholarly researchers to policy writers.

In preparing for my previous post on Stephen King and Danse Macabre I stumbled across this poster. Though it has the kind of professional staleness you’d expect from a publisher–boy, I’d love to see a good edgy graphic novelist or digital designer get ahold of this book–I think it is a great reminder of some of the bright practical points of On Writing. It wasn’t these 14 things that meant so much to me but the book as a whole, warts and zippers running up the back of the monster’s back and everything. But I rarely forget these 14 points, which make a great addition to the writing rules from L.M. Montgomery, Olivia Butler and Robert Heinlein that we’ve already discovered. It’s true, these are all writing hacks compared to many other elegant writers of writing books. Still, you know who I am talking about, and I think these rules go a long way to transcending genre and the limitations of labels.

I hope this little post from A Pilgrim in Narnia helps you along your way, whether your destination is the bestseller shelf or the bargain bin, the lectern or the pulpit, a product user or the legislative assembly, your little writing circle or the entire twitterverse.

About Brenton Dickieson

“A Pilgrim in Narnia” is a blog project in reading and talking about the work of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the worlds they touched. As a "Faith, Fantasy, and Fiction" blog, we cover topics like children’s literature, apologetics and philosophy, myths and mythology, fantasy, theology, cultural critique, art and writing. This blog includes my thoughts as I read through Lewis and Tolkien and reflect on my own life and culture. In this sense, I am a Pilgrim in Narnia--or Middle Earth, or Fairyland. I am often peeking inside of wardrobes, looking for magic bricks in urban alleys, or rooting through yard sale boxes for old rings. If something here captures your imagination, leave a comment, “like” a post, share with your friends, or sign up to receive Narnian Pilgrim posts in your email box. Brenton Dickieson is a father, husband, friend, university lecturer, and freelance writer from Prince Edward Island, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter, @BrentonDana.

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