Stephen King "On writing"

aeschylus

I have got round to reading it, and it's very accessible and interesting.

He says that when we write novels we should forget about the notion of "plot" and just write "story". He argues that, if he doesn't know where it's going, then his reader won't be able to guess either (this is a bit like my serve in tennis).

If we have any SK readers out there, does he follow his own advice?

And have those among us who have written (and published?) novels gone down the plot route or the story route?

casey

Story every time. Character driven. I never know what going to happen in the end.

Jen

I wonder if he follows his own advice sometimes. I read Stephen King and loved his books in my pre-teens but as I read more I got bored. I feel he tends to drag on a bit and it's not very fast paced. He is a good writer and he has good ideas but some of his books I found terrible (Dreamcatcher) and he says "murder your darlings" but his books fail to keep me interested as I've just said.
So I don't think he does follow his advice, I have the book to reread on my bookshelf, too many books as usual to get around to reading it.
Maybe the problem is he doesn't know where it's going so he has to write all these long boring (sorry) chapters to find an ending?
I think he's over rated and I prefer James Herbert.

localfreak

I did everything backwards- I read Stephen King's 'On Writing' and loved it so much I have not only read it multiple times but then tried out some of his fiction books. I think, when he talks about looking at 'what ifs' and a situation, he does that in the ones I read (Gerald's Game in particular) and I liked Misery too. I wasn't as fond of Carrie but I think that felt more plotted- though in all likelihood it's more because of the way it is written with police reports and look-backs.

That said I haven't read all of his books, but I'm a fan of reading anything that begins with those kind of 'what if' principles.

I do love On Writing though. And he does add in that in some parts he says "do as I saw, not as I do" (such as with adverbs).

Neph

I have to admit as I really don't like his books I haven't even considered reading this one, maybe that is an error on my part, might have to give it a whirl.

Carol

I looked at it in a bookshop once. And I'm sure what he has to say is useful, once you get further into the book...

datco2014

I kind of plot the storyline out but more often than not it kind of ends up going it's own merry way sometimes that's great sometimes it's pants. I recently let one of my female characters tell a friend about her last boyfriend and it got weird and totally out of character to the point where it was almost disturbing so I had to scrap the whole thing eased about 8000 words and gave her a real ticking off before realising that it was actually my brain that had come up with the whole thing and that disturbed me even more!

I think having at least a rough plot gives you some structure to follow but you're a writer so you're bound to wander off from time to time and often that's when the best things happen.