Pay and the story rolls. Steal and the story folds. No stealing from the blind newsboy. Stephen King More Quotes by Stephen King More Quotes From Stephen King I recognize terror as the finest emotion and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I find that I cannot terrify, I will try to horrify, and if I find that I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud. Stephen King proud emotion trying We've switched from a culture that was interested in manufacturing, economics, politics - trying to play a serious part in the world - to a culture that's really entertainment-based. Stephen King play trying culture But I think there are a set of experiences that turn a potential writer into a working writer, and then there are places in your life were you start to recognize what you want to do. Stephen King places-in-your-life want thinking Above, the stars shone hard and bright, sparks struck off the dark skin of the universe. Stephen King skins stars dark The redness was going out of the light now, the remains of the day were a fading pink, the color of wild roses. Stephen King wild-roses color light you must not come lightly to the blank page. Stephen King blank-pages pages writing All is forgotten in the stone halls of the dead. These are the rooms of ruin where the spiders spin and the great circuits fall quiet, one by one. Stephen King spiders stones fall It is the tale, not he who tells it. Stephen King tales Fault always lies in the same place: with him weak enough to lay blame. Stephen King faults philosophy lying Good books don't give up all their secrets at once. Stephen King giving-up inspirational book Some of this book—perhaps too much—has been about how I learned to do it. Much of it has been about how you can do it better. The rest of it—and perhaps the best of it—is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you're brave enough to start, you will. Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up. Stephen King writing book art Anything with the power to make you laugh over thirty years later isn’t a waste of time. I think something like that is very close to immortality. Stephen King laughter years thinking Nightmares exist outside of logic, and there's little fun to be had in explanations; they're antithetical to the poetry of fear. Stephen King logic littles fun If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered. Stephen King polite members writing Most books about writing are filled with bullshit. Fiction writers, present company included, don’t understand very much about what they do—not why it works when it’s good, not why it doesn’t when it’s bad. Stephen King bullshit writing book Cats were the gangsters of the animal world, living outside the law and often dying there. There were a great many of them who never grew old by the fire. Stephen King cat fire animal One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones. This is like dressing up a household pet in evening clothes. The pet is embarrassed and the person who committed this act of premeditated cuteness should be even more embarrassed. Stephen King dressing-up clothes writing I'm rightly tired of the pain I hear and feel, boss. I'm tired of bein on the road, lonely as a robin in the rain. Not never havin no buddy to go on with or tell me where we's comin from or goin to or why. I'm tired of people bein ugly to each other. It feels like pieces of glass in my head. I'm tired of all the times I've wanted to help and couldn't. I'm tired of bein in the dark. Mostly it's the pain. There's too much. If I could end it, I would. But I can't. Stephen King pain lonely rain Directing teenage actors is like juggling jars of nitro-glycerine: exhilarating and dangerous. Stephen King teenage actors jars If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot…reading is the creative center of a writer’s life…you cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you. Stephen King reading writing two
