I TRIED WRITING LIKE STEPHEN KING FOR A DAY // a writing vlog 

Most relatable thing i've ever seen!!!

Me: *takes over 100 days to write 49 pages and can’t continue writing cause laptop won’t turn on*

And me, writes twenty pages a day, when I write..... extremely rarely. (Like with a wait period of 4-6 months)

Me: *writes one sentence every couple of months.*

Yep , my orphanage book has 2 chapters in it and its been about 3 months

My friend and I actually have a competition of sorts where we test exactly that! We use themed writing prompts and get progressively more tipsy throughout the night/video/with each prompt. (Admittedly, we haven't made it to the "edit" part of it yet, though I sometimes try to clean it up a little later...😂) ru-vid.com/group/PLaxU2rtP-LEBPU60UUsMDmkF77WjBKaaD

Malice Burgoyne Thanks! I love reading my work too!

why is that beyond genius?

Tbh - some of my best quotes from characters (especially when they were pissed) came from drunk me 😂

Oh yes please

Same

My life

Sounds normal to me.

Literally what I'm doing right now. I did three pages (approximately 1000 words) and now I'm watching this and eating potato chips xD

*cough* I feel attacked- 😂

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Did you say 3 centuries?

I'm about a year and a third in. Not even close to finishing the first draft xD

George RR Martin: Did you say 10 years?

Me: 8 years to write a historical novel :)))) and only 2 months to write another historical novel...

Thanks for the clarification. I'm somewhat the same but I think I would benefit from following SK's example.

I never share my works with anyone I know irl.

I've read that going the path of updating others before the first draft is done leads to never finishing the story in publishable form. Better to keep it to yourself as telling others seems to take the wind out of your sails, vent the steam in your creative boiler, and any number of other metaphors for keeping you from finishing your first draft.

I've written 7 novels that I probably will never show to a simple other person.

Ain't that the truth!!

Yeahhhh

Make a schedule.

I go to the woods. No electricity, no phone, no internet. No distractions.

@@DreamfactoryZero really?

What do you write fanfics about? I'm just kind of curious.

Having a pre-existing universe always seems to make writing easier.

@@DMDSFrazzles it does, and apparently the pre existing universe in my head does not count.

@@bat5092 I write Harry Potter fanfiction, though I only just started actually posting (yay to small accomplishments!) - never had the nerve to before. It's on fanfiction.net, if you're interested. 'The After' by Xinders. Drop me a review if you read it!

@@kristionaquest That's really cool! I'm way to obsessed with Harry Potter, so I'll definitely check it out.

I'd forget it by morning haha. That's impressive

I do this too, for hours before falling asleep (sometimes even dream about my stories), but I always forget the dialogues within minutes so I have to write them down in a diary. Which I know he is against, but oh well. :)

@@yuu_rei same, exactly!! i always dream up stories and new ideas and scenes and plot points and dialogues. Mostly at night. I have to write them down though because I forget it quickly. but i love doing it

my adhd said no ma'am

I could never.

I think your last sentence nails it! And I agree, that's my stance on adverbs too. I feel that way about a lot of writing style choices -- it's the overuse, at the cost of something better, that bothers me.

If they weren't important/useful they wouldn't exist

I think the 'bad adverb' thing comes from people only understanding half of the problem and generalizing. Adverbs only pose a problem, when they are unintentional repetition, as in, when the adverbs meaning is already encompassed in the verb. P.ex.: 'she smiled happily' vs. 'she smiled sadly' The first feels redundant while the second gives more information. An amazing example for good adverb use would also be 'killing me softly'

No, King is justified in saying never to use them in fiction writing because their only use is to tell instead of show which breaks the first rule of writing stories. If something is being stressed, expanded, or mixed, then show that actually happening by providing an example. In the case of "do not come lightly..." he is purposefully telling and not showing because this is his personal advice.

Pulled randomly from the first free online sampling of one of Stephen King's works I could find: "Annie Wilkes occasionally lost her centre. For periods of time which could last only a few seconds or longer, there was nothing solid in her. Everything about her was in motion, with no basis on which to rest. It was as if a hole opened up inside her and swallowed every human quality she possessed. She seemed to have no memory of these times. In contrast, however, her body was very solid and strong, especially for a middle-aged woman." -- Misery, Chapter Two, paragraph six. FIVE adverbs. TWO end in the dreaded "-ly". Stephen King uses adverbs. ALL authors use adverbs. I used SEVEN in my initial response's last paragraph alone, yet no one called me on it. And I purposely did it. (Oops! There, I just did it again: "purposely"). King is disingenuous about adverbs. He says it to get writers' attention and focus on their word choice, and has a valid point there. But adverbs serve a purpose, and he most certainly DOES use them. Don't let his hypocrisy prevent you.

Xarles O'Mara . They say Alcohol enhances creativity.

Oh thank god! 😅

coke as is coca-cola or cocaine?

“Whatever works, Teddy. Don’t judge.”

@@mateamatic8360 cocaine

Oooh, very cool to know. That's kind of my method currently - once I finish a draft, I put it away for 2 months. Always. That space between the project and writer is so important!

very smart

For real. At least this one won't get me put on any lists, like when I'm googling different ways to kill people. 😂

Okay I low-key want to get a bunch of writers to read their search histories out loud and see what the weirdest thing they find

@@lexin8139 erotica writers be like-

@@KateCavanaugh I actually thought you said Melt a donkey

@@Drenaid same

AWWW thank you so much! :) :)

Okay, that makes complete sense. I'm not great at guessing how many words are on a book page (or I should say, I haven't counted them up!) but someone else said the exact same thing. 2000 is a great goal and definitely sounds more doable daily in the long run.

@@KateCavanaugh I write myself so looked up novel word counts and book page word counts a few years back, plus I'm a Stephen King fan and have read quite a few interviews where he's stated his writing process. Looking forward to you copying Murakami's routine ☺

He did a thing with GRRM a couple months ago and he says he's down to 800.

in his younger days he'd use drugs

Pages tend to be calculated at 250 words to a page, since the "olden days" of over the transom publishing, according to everything I´ve read in the last 30 years.

So we should start doing more live write-ins together is what I'm getting from this?! Bahaha. Then you'll have 11 days! 😂

It's taken me 6 months to finish a chapter of my comic. A comic should take Considerably less time than a novel

Idk if its important to not drink coffee because he's used to not drinking it so I feel it's different to be a non coffee drinker vs being in coffee withdrawal. Since his "normal" is not drinking coffee, I would so keep my body at its normal and drink the coffee. However, I admire your dedication to the process. I also love experiment videos!!! :)

@@ultravioletpisces3666 Yeaaaaaah, I wouldn't be able to write without coffee. My whole life is in slow motion until I get at least a couple of sips down, plus if I try to go a whole day without I start getting headaches.... Not fun.

Oh wow, thank you so much! :)

I agree. The 27 minutes flew by and it was informative.

I felt more productive than I have in a LONG time! It was crazy. The dedicated focus aspect was the best and the worst and I've tried to recreate it but not sooooo intensely. I do feel like I'm getting more done now though!

>:3 i wake up at 6 each morning, trying to push it to 5:30. productivity feels good.

Omg, Stephen King is an anxious elephant!

Thank you so much, I love experiments! And HOW DO YOU DO IT. How many books have you sold? I don't believe you're not Stephen King now bahaha.

the image of stephen king using the o.ö-emoji cracks me up to no end

@@Vickynger i should've used uwu . (i mean, it is kind of a terrifying creature living in the interwebs.)

Keep being Stephen King and you can get some moneyyy

Best comment

That’s awesome

Have you published it?

FLUTTER_ KEYS only one copy! I gave it to a friend and asked her to pass it along to someone else after reading it (along with the instruction to do the same), and that I didn’t want/need to know where it went. And, so.

Victoria Luther I read that as soon as she said it and now I’m so confused… what kind of book is she writing?

Mya Writes Things milk

🤣🤣🤣

YES SAME. That was my least favorite part of his routine! I need time away from the words to figure out if I want them to stay around or not haha.

Bahahaha only according to Stephen King! Some authors (and readers!) love them.

Lolly! Lolly! Lolly! Get your adverbs here!!!!!

It just depends on whether it's necessary for the effect you're going for. King and other people have said you often don't need an adverb to say what you need to say effectively because often using a stronger verb is better. "He shouted at the TV and threw it across the room." is a lot better than "He spoke very, very, loudly at the TV and threw it across the room." You just want to try and eliminate words that don't serve a purpose.

@@TheRachaelLefler Yes! That perfectly answers it. :) Choose strong, accurate words. But sometimes an adverb can be that too (or fit the flow of the sentence, etc.). Just don't rely on adverbs!

I mean... I would never want to write like Hemingway. That was his style and his writing philosophy. Definitely definitely not mine. I find Hemingway unreadable.

RIGHT ME NEITHER. Blew my mind! I need to search up other things Scrivener can do, but I never think to google it until I'm met with a problem haha. And yes, agreed! I like routines so I dig that aspect. (And it's something I was more/less already doing, though maybe not quite as rigidly!)

YESSSS! SYNCHRONIZED THINKING. (Or whatever that phenomenon is called.) Please let me know when you do, I'd love to watch it!

​@@KateCavanaugh That's a good word for it, and will do! :D And let me know when you want to do the prompt challenge thing after Camp! :D

Bahah I don't know why it was either! Glad you enjoyed it though. :)

BAHAHAH YES. Team water! And Team Tea, even, though man oh man it was much less fun without coffee. I think this is just great evidence as to "how to write a book" is not one thing for all people. AND SO MANY SCRIVENER HACKS. I'm still excited haha.

I like reading the way lots of different writers do it so you can see there is no one right way. When I was younger I thought you had to have an outline, you had to do this and that, you have to have this much pre-writing (character background etc).... Nope!!!

RIGHT. If I have food in front of me, I should have entertainment too! Bahaha. Glad I'm not the only one!

In college I used to play about 6 overlapping RU-vid videos to get the effect of being in a room full of people talking, where the voices blend together. It was music, talking, affirmations, and binaural beats. I found it very calming and it blocks out whatever is going on in the room.

Same

Honestly I find silence so much more distracting. I can block out noise seeing as in school you kinda have too but the second there is nothing my brain goes crazy. It’s as if I need something to distract the, “hey let’s think about life and say screw all to focusing” part of my brain.

A little late to the party, but i can't write in silence I have to have music playing while I write, the louder the better. I also have different genres of music that I have playing, depending on the genre I'm writing. If I'm writing anything contemporary (horror, thrillers, crime) I listen to rock, heavy metal and dark symphonic ambient tracks. If I'm writing fantasy I listen to Bardcore and fantasy Soundtracks, if I'm writing sci-fi I listen to Sci-fi movie soundtracks and cyberpunk music. It all helps get me in the right head space and it helps with setting tone and helps create atmosphere in the fiction, at least for me.

Link doesn't work T_T

Thanks for letting me know, Hassam! I put the ending parenthesis too close to the link last time. It should be fixed now! :)

@@KateCavanaugh no worries, found it on your channel anyway :)

His routine was a fun one to copy just because it's SO different from my own. I'm a fast drafter / Zero Drafter who writes really short drafts and always ends up adding words with each sequential draft. The high-concentration long sprint is a great way to put it and I found it exhausting haha. But definitely my favorite part of his routine and the "no distractions" element is something I've been working to replicate moving forward!

GrimReads Most people have writers block. King has writers diarrhea, which is a good thing to have

And only write a sentence a day

@@candyfordinner7216 You made my day with that comment.

@@littlehelper337 Glad I could help lol

They still make Commodores? Holy hell im old

I don't own a typewriter (yet - I would love to!) but I could maybe borrow my sister-in-law's. That's a great recommendation, thank you! :)

She also famously made very few edits or corrections. I'd gift you a typewriter if they were a little less expensive to mail.@@KateCavanaugh

@@dragonkattz and she wrote 10000 words a day.

@@kaylajames9334 gosh.

ME TOO. I feel like I don't know enough but I'd be happy to share what I do!

I am more interested in tips and hacks for efficient Liquid Story Binder use.

Aww, thank you so much! That's so kind of you to say and put a big smile on my face. :)

I MISSED IT SO MUCH!

Little inkling! 💗 And wow, that's awesome! I'm definitely a write every day or write every week day fan. And I'm with you, it helps to keep me in the story and keep my momentum up!!

Thank you so much! This was such a lovely comment. I'll keep my fingers crossed you find a routine you really enjoy and that works for you! Before these experiment-style videos, I thought I had my routine more/less down, but I feel like these have just been evidence that you can always find new bits and pieces to add to your routine that you'll love.

YAYAY! I'm glad! :) I had so much fun with it so I can't wait to do some more.

AWWW thanks so much! It felt very crazy to follow his routine bahah.

LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU FILM IT! I'd love to watch. And that was my biggest takeaway too! Trying to keep my mornings distraction-free, I think, will be a big help in the long run.

YAY! Thanks so much Alex! :) And I'm still so happy you introduced me to that term!

YAY! I'm so glad to hear that. :) and I hope you're feeling better soon! Happy writing.

AWW YAY! Thank you! It was so much fun to make too. :)

OMG! I feel like I just learned a lesson on typewriters, this was awesome haha. I'm a Garamond fan myself.

I'd love to try a long form experiment eventually! (I've tried some week-long and month-long in the past). During Camp NaNoWriMo it's hard though (since technically that's an experiment in itself haha). But noted for the future! :)

WOOHOO! Congratulations, that's awesome. You crushed it. And I personally feel the allowance for coffee is very smart. 😂

Good to know!

Lol he wrote Cujo while he was all intoxicated and says he does not even remember writing it. Gotta love that guy

Yesssss, you make great points! The upside to indie publishing is that you're fully in control and the downside to that means you have to do it all yourself which means that your work is a lot more than just writing. (I know tradpub writers also have to market themselves as well, but we can all agree it's not AS much work as doing it all indie.) So I'm only a day into the new ~routine~ of 2K without distractions (and unlike this video, where it only took me 2 hours, this time it took me 4 hours) BUT I am loving it. We'll see how long I can keep it up but I think that's the biggest thing I took away from this experiment.

@@KateCavanaugh You're sooooo making me want to do this! I used to do 2k a day and I just loved how it made me feel so accomplished! Okay! For Camp lol! I'm going to set aside my mornings and just do it!

Yeah he's talking about manuscript pages and those are always supposed to be double spaced.

I had a conversation with a librarian who said she didn't enjoy jks writing style, doesn't like the long sentences. I am defi.toyl a long sentence writer. The antithisis of Hemingway. Fuck that guy. Lol