Tips about Writing from Stephen King

Posted on April 5, 2025 | Leave a comment

Stephen King, the King of Horror, has written dozens of fictional bestsellers, many of which have become blockbuster movies.  He also wrote a book, On Writing, telling how he writes.  Here are some of his ideas.

From his own experience, King believes a writer’s job is to recognize two previously unrelated ideas and to make something new from them.

Writers write their first drafts for themselves, to tell themselves a story.  When they rewrite, they take out everything that is not part of the story.

Writers shouldn’t “dress up” their natural short-word vocabulary with long words.  They should use the first words that come into their heads.

You don’t need to write in complete sentences all the time.

Avoid passive verbs.  Timid writers use passive verbs because they seem safe.

Forget using adverbs.

Fear leads to bad writing.

Use “said.”

To make possessive nouns, add apostrophe S every time.

Easy-to-read books contain lots of white space and dialog.

To be a good writer, do two things:  read a lot and write a lot.

If you don’t have time to read a lot, you don’t have the time or the know-how to write well.

To learn what not to do, read bad writing.

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Posted in adverbs, apostrophes, fear of writing, fiction writing, fragments, good writing v. bad writing, how to write better, passive verbs, possessive nouns, practice reading skills, practice writing skills, revising first drafts, said, short words, writing tips

Ever hear of a flat adverb?

Posted on March 3, 2025 | Leave a comment

One commonly heard kind of flat adverb is an adverb which is identical to its adjective.  No -ly is added to the adjective form.  Examples include

  • He drives too slow.
  • That midfielder runs fast.
  • The student arrived late to class.
  • She dressed smart for the job interview.

adult couple in discussionAnother common kind of flat adverb has no -ly form.  Some of the adverbs we use the most have no -ly form, such as

  • I am not ready for bed.
  • I always eat breakfast.
  •  Go now before it rains.

Flat adverbs with no -ly form are acceptable in standard English usage.  Flat adverbs identical to adjectives are growing in acceptance, but are not universally accepted.

I suspect older people, who were taught grammar rigorously, startle when they hear younger people drop the -ly on some adverbs.  And I suspect younger people, whose grammar education was not rigorous, are not aware there is another way to say, “He ran quick as can be.”

English is a living language, and like all living things, grows, changes, and adapts.  American English has become less formal than British English and less formal than the English of past generations of Americans.

I see two problems with flat adverbs.  One is an older generation judging a younger generation as poorly educated if the younger people drop the -ly on adverbs.  Since usually it’s an older generation hiring and promoting a younger generation, using flat adverbs during interviews and emails could reflect badly on younger applicants.

Another problem is what the SAT and ACE expect of students taking those tests.  Standard English changes, but slowly (not slow).

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Posted in adverbs

What to revise to improve writing

Posted on January 6, 2025 | Leave a comment

Students often think revising means editing, that is, making small changes. Adding an apostrophe or improving spelling is not revising.  Revising means making significant improvements to writing.  Revising is the process by which okay writing becomes great.

So what exactly is revising?  Here are some examples, though there are many more.

Change weak (nonspecific) verbs to specific verbs.  If possible rewrite the verb to be (is, are, was, were) and come, go, give, take, get, start, put, look, and see, but not say or said.

  • I got tired raking leaves, so I came inside and took a nap.  This becomes, After I tired from raking, I snuggled on my bed and napped.

After weak verbs, find infinitives or nouns that can be turned into strong verbs.

  • When the car started to spin, Mom took her foot off the gas pedal. This becomes, When the car spun, Mom released the gas pedal.

Use active, not passive verbs.

  • The apple was eaten by Mary. This becomes, Mary ate the apple.

Change long nouns (e.g., encouragement, contamination, habitation) to verbs.

  • Use moderation in your dietary habits. This becomes Moderate your diet.

Combine frequent small sentences (fewer than 10 words) to add sophistication to writing.

  • That’s my brother. His name is Akhil.  He is seven.  He can write a two-wheeler.  This becomes My seven-year-old brother, Akhil, can ride a two-wheeler.

Delete a sentence with just one bit of new information and put that information in another sentence to eliminate wordiness.

  • The baby fell out of the carriage. The carriage rolled down the hill.  This becomes, The baby fell out of the carriage which rolled down the hill.

Combine sentences to eliminate wordiness.

  • My uncle was wounded playing football. He played for the University of Georgia twenty years ago. He played before I was born.  This becomes, My uncle broke his leg playing football for the University of Georgia twenty years ago, before I was born.

Identify the sentence structures used (simple, compound, complex and compound-complex).  Rewrite the sentences to create more complicated simple sentences and easy-to-understand complex sentences, and to eliminate most compound sentences.

  • I watched the Rose Bowl Parade on TV, and I enjoyed it. I could not believe the floats!  They were covered with flowers, seeds, leaves, and other living things.  I hope, when I am older, to see the parade in person.  This becomes, I enjoyed watching the Rose Bowl Parade on TV.  Flowers, seeds, leaves and other living things covered the floats.  Someday, I hope to see that unbelievable parade in person.

Limit the number of dependent clauses in sentences to two.

  • The resort where we vacationed used to be a private club that attracted millionaires in the 19th century who arrived by train before wealthy people had air conditioning. This becomes, We vacationed at a resort that used to be a private club for millionaires.  In the 19th century, wealthy people arrived there by train.  They wanted to escape the heat in an era before air conditioning.

Change first words of sentences to add variety. 

  • See previous changes.

Count the number of words in each sentence.  Average them.  Aim for an average of 14 to 18 words with some longer and some shorter.  If the average is 10 or below, increase the number of words per sentence.  If the average is 20 or above, decrease the number of words per sentence.  Don’t count the number of words per sentence until you have made other changes or you will need to recount.

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Posted in "to be", active verbs, how to write better, number of words per sentence, passive verbs, revising first drafts, revising sentence length, sentence structure, verb choice, voice, writing tips

How to start writing a narrative

Posted on December 20, 2024 | Leave a comment

A high school student asked me how to start writing a narrative–not how to continue on but how to start.  What should the writer think about?  Here are some good ideas:

A good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. In the past, stories began with exposition, and some teachers still suggest that way of starting. But today many  professional writers start as close to the inciting event as possible and weave background information into ongoing action.  If you’re writing about a trip to New York, for example, forget the plane ride and hotel and start the story where the action starts–losing your balance while climbing the Statue of Liberty.

 

Determine the story’s arc, which is often the protagonist’s arc. What problem / situation does the protagonist want to solve / change? Readers search for change.  That change is usually growth in the protagonist.  If everything / everyone is the same at the end, start over.

Make sure the story’s problem is mentioned in every major scene. Keep the reader focused on it and on how the protagonist is dealing with it.

You want your readers to share the emotions of the protagonist. You want your readers to feel like they are the protagonist.  You want your readers to care about him/her.  Readers identify with emotions so make your character’s emotions known.

Whose story is this? Readers can focus/care about a single character better than a group.  Decide whose story this is.  He/she needs to be in every scene if you use first person POV, and in almost every scene if you use third person POV.  Keep your protagonist front and center starting in the first paragraph.

Readers need to orient themselves as to the time and place of the story. In the opening paragraphs, identify the setting.  You need not go into detail but make the reader comfortable.

Don’t belabor opening sentences. Just get going and you can go back later to refine the opening.

Expect your first draft to be imperfect. Expect that you will revise to polish everything from dialog to sentence structure to throwing out whole parts.

If you are handwriting, write on every other line of lined paper, leaving room to insert words in the spaces between the lines. Leave the backs of pages blank.  Learn to live with cross-outs, insertions, and a mess.  If you run out of room, use the back.  Write notes to yourself in the margins.  Rewrite a page only when you can no longer follow your arrows.

If you write on a computer, cut and save paragraphs, dialog, and anything else you might want when you revise.  Save this material at the bottom of your narrative in case you change your mind. Make back up copies on the cloud.  Send drafts to yourself as email attachments with the date so you have multiple backups.

Lastly, read your writing aloud, over and over.  Revise over and over.

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Posted in English Writing Instruction

Let students learn from other students’ writing

Posted on December 8, 2024 | Leave a comment

Students love to read what other students have written, especially if everyone is writing about the same thing and if everyone is the same age.  Students are immediately engaged, checking to see how their peers handle the same writing assignment as themselves.

For example, I have asked elementary students to read the textless picture book Flora and the Penguin by Molly Idle.  Then I have asked them to analyze the table below.  It contains student-written versions of parts of the Flora story.

Linda Marion Nancy
One day there was a girl On a cold winter day a girl Once upon a time Flora
There was a penguin who wanted to play with her. When a penguin poked its beak out of the water A penguin named Steve put his body in the water.
They started to dance while ice skating.  They did more and more ice skating until they were tired. They skated this way and that way. They skated and danced together.  They jumped and twirled.  They slid across the ice.
When the penguin saw a fish, he jumped in the water. The penguin smelled a school of fish. Steve poked his head in the water.  Flora said, “What are you doing?”  Steve disappeared.
When he came out he had a fish in his mouth.  Then the penguin gave it to her as a present. The penguin came back with a fish in her mouth.  Flora was outraged.  The penguin gave the fish to Flora. Steve got a fish.  He gave it to Flora as a present.  Flora thought the fish was disgusting.
She threw it back in the water. She threw it back in the water. So, she threw it back in the water.
Before she left, she put her [shoe]lace in the water and tried to get a fish.  So, she kept on pulling until she got a fish. Flora felt sorry for the penguin, so she took off one of the lacings on her skates.  She dipped it in the water so she could get a fish for the penguin.  The two of them pulled as hard as they could and out came a fish. She took her [shoe]lace out.  She put it in the water just like a fishing net.  A fish approached.  They both tugged and tugged and tugged and tugged on the lace.  They caught the fish.
The fish got eaten by the penguin. They started skating and they were happy. They started skating all over again.

Usually when  students analyze the writing of other students, they recognize when it is good.  They note that “This version has dialog” or “This version tells that it’s morning.”  Analyzing the writing in the table above, one second grader said he like the “tugged and tugged and tugged and tugged” part because it shows how hard it was to catch a fish.  Another said she liked “They skated and danced together.  They jumped and twirled.  They slid across the ice.” because it showed different kinds of play.

Students are surprised to see that some second graders write better than some fifth graders.  We discuss what the second graders do that the fifth graders don’t.  “More details.”  “Different ways to start sentences.”  “More interesting verbs.”

Help your students become better writers by exposing them to the writing of other students.  Encourage them to analyze why some writing is better than others.  Take a simple scene such as a girl and a penguin sliding across ice and ask students to describe it.  Then share responses and discuss what is good about them.

As they say, good writing is not rocket science.  Mostly it’s revising.

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Posted in action verbs, adding details, critical thinking, details in writing, English Writing Instruction, how to motivate child writers, revising first drafts, student writers as teachers, teaching writing