King on writing

Stephen King's "On Writing: A Memoir on the Craft" is a guide for aspiring writers combined with a memoir on King's life and work.

Some excerpts:
"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."

King's maxim suggests that if you don't observe the first part, you'll never get it written, and if you never observe the second part, you'll never get it published. Be protective in the first stage, be open in the second.

It makes me nervous when people ask me to critique their work, not in fear that they won't listen but but in fear that they will. I don't want the responsibility for spoiling someone's art because of my own biases. I always qualify my comments by suggesting that they ask at least three people to look it over and then pay close attention to suggestions they hear from at least two, but to feel free to ignore comments they hear from only one.

More King:
"In truth, I've found that any day's routine interruptions and distractions don't much hurt a work in progress and may actually help it in some ways. It is, after all, the dab of grit that seeps into an oyster's shell that makes the pearl, not pearl-making seminars with other oysters."

I think that reflects the discipline of a seasoned writer. Many artists require isolation (Thoreau), and so they create late at night or physically separated from the confines of their everyday lives in a studio or attic or barn loft.

King:
"The scariest moment is always just before you start."

That's true of every art. Painters are frightened by empty canvases. Actors are frightened just before the curtain opens. Writers are frightened by blank pages (or blank screens with pestering cursors pulsing their impatience). The important thing is to start, even if you start badly.