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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35410
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35410
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

To me, Stephen King's advice (as seen in a live interview, and asked what advice he had for aspiring writers):

Basically he said, if you want to write, write. Every day. Don't worry about plotting, or any other technical details. That will come, write a story, then write another. Write every day (he does, including his birthday, Christmas, 365 days a year, but he takes breaks between books). If you love writing, then you will learn those technicalities when you realize your story isn't working.

(King is a discovery writer, btw.)

He goes on to make a sharp observation, in my view: That most people that **claim** they want to be writer are fooling themselves, because what they want is **To Have Written.**"They want this," he says, waving at the set and his interviewer. The interviews on TV, the book signings, the money from a best-seller, but they don't actually **love writing** for its own sake. So they will not succeed as a writer, because you cannot fail for years and book after book doing work you don't really love, and that is what it will take, before you are good enough to make any kind of living [in fiction]. And if you don't **love writing** you just aren't going to learn what you need to get better, even if you put in those years.

King says that before he sold Carrie he was not thinking that all his time would be wasted if he never sold anything. Writing fiction was his pastime, it was fun, and if he only entertained himself by getting his imagination on paper that would be fine. And that is the way to approach writing: Do it because you like it, you like crafting a story, and it entertains you. Stick with it and you will get better. But if you think the **only** reason to write is for the money you hope to get and would feel like you wasted your time if your story doesn't make a dime, then you should probably quit now, because if you cannot write for it's own sake you shouldn't be trying this profession.

Original score: 54