Stephen King said another notable thing in the interview I blogged about Tuesday.
He said, “One of the things I wanted to say in (Duma Key) is that creativity is a road out of pain and misery and unhappiness.”
I love this message. First, I love the hope implied, that there IS a road out of pain and misery and unhappiness. And certainly in my life, creativity has been that road, so I also believe there’s an important Truth in the statement.
But I also love that he said it at all. He’s got … what, 50? … novels to his credit. By now, you might expect him to be a novel-producing machine (and yes, I know some people do call him that). Instead, he’s still trying to get an important message across.
I just finished reading Donald Maass’ seminal book on writing, Writing the Breakout Novel (more on this in a later post).
One of the things Maass says is that a writer has to be writing from passion. It’s not enough to have great characters or a great plot or great pacing. Or even all of the above. To be truly great, an author needs a message burning inside that he or she absolutely must deliver — or die trying.
How affirming it was to hear Stephen King’s comment and realize that — 50-some books later — he still has a message to deliver. No doubt that’s the source of the power in his writing.
Tags: Breakout Novels, Donald Maass, Duma Key, Stephen King
January 23, 2008 at 3:22 pm |
At least in the ones he writes himself! LOL (See the *Can a book be TOO gross?* entry.)
Yeah, he does still come out with a really good one now and then. I love his quote, too. Think it will work for me?
January 24, 2008 at 7:11 am |
LOL, indeed. I still maintain that The Stand is one of the great novels of the 20th Century, but some of the later novels? Not so much.
I absolutely think it will work for you. You already have the skill. If you add passion, you could rule the world.