{ "type": "book", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "title": "On Writing", "slug": "on-writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing.md", "author": { "name": "Stephen King", "slug": "stephen-king", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king" }, "cover": "https://quivercdn.com/covers/hodder-stoughton/stephen-king/on-writing_978-14-4476-181-8.jpg", "quotes_count": 18, "quotes": [ { "id": "d1520f85-33c2-43fe-bdeb-0593df75727c", "slug": "reading-in-bed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/reading-in-bed", "text": "...reading in bed can be heaven, assuming you can get just the right amount of light on the page and aren't prone to spilling your coffee or cognac on the sheets.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:43" }, { "id": "ab1d2352-93d4-494d-b1bb-90eaf1171d86", "slug": "some-of-this", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/some-of-this", "text": "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.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:43" }, { "id": "7bd328e7-dabf-42a6-8233-42fc7f27f280", "slug": "good-writing-on-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/good-writing-on-the", "text": "Good writing, on the other hand, teaches the learning writer about style, graceful narration, plot development, the creation of believable characters, and truth-telling.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:43" }, { "id": "0056076d-3b91-4091-b727-9ca4b99efa4b", "slug": "life-isnt-a-support", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/life-isnt-a-support", "text": "Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:43" }, { "id": "f5a392da-8be4-430c-8ec4-d4cd3ee37da7", "slug": "writing-is-a-lonely", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/writing-is-a-lonely", "text": "Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference. They don’t have to make speeches. Just believing is usually enough.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:42" }, { "id": "ddbfd723-22f1-423d-9b2c-42ca9b167e9e", "slug": "i-believe-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/i-believe-the", "text": "I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:42" }, { "id": "dbed4e9a-f76e-40c6-95c1-857de55ed349", "slug": "words-create-sentences", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/words-create-sentences", "text": "\"Words create sentences; sentences create paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe. Imagine if you like, Frankenstein's monster on its slab. Here comes lightning, not from the sky but from a humble paragraph of English words. Maybe it's the first really good paragraph you wrote, something so fragile and yet full of possibility that you are frightened. You feel as Victor Frankenstein must have when the dead conglomeration of sewn-together spare parts suddenly opened its watery yellow eyes. Oh my God, it's breathing, you realize. Maybe it's even thinking. What in hell's name do I do next?", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:42" }, { "id": "d6f47849-09e1-4acf-9355-ae477944fa27", "slug": "if-you-dont", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/if-you-dont", "text": "If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" }, { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:42" }, { "id": "c66009ab-c1be-46a3-a932-438499d4fcc9", "slug": "im-convinced-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/im-convinced-that", "text": "\"I'm convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing\"", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "fear", "slug": "fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear" }, { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:42" }, { "id": "c65d8965-19f1-4936-aa0c-e4efedd83869", "slug": "one-rule-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/one-rule-of-the", "text": "One rule of the road not directly stated elsewhere in this book: \"The editor is always right.\" The corollary is that no writer will take all of his or her editor's advice; for all have sinned and fallen short of editorial perfection. Put another way, to write is human, to edit is divine.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:42" }, { "id": "959afba4-5883-4bc9-9f88-1c3aa83f86e2", "slug": "lets-get-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/lets-get-one", "text": "Let's get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" }, { "name": "ideas", "slug": "ideas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:42" }, { "id": "90063c84-829e-41e1-b44b-ccdeb4437440", "slug": "when-you-write", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/when-you-write", "text": "When you write a story, you're telling yourself the story...When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:42" }, { "id": "7e138e09-59f7-4496-99b1-f32e1a4531b3", "slug": "for-me-writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/for-me-writing", "text": "For me writing has always been best when it's intimate, as sexy as skin on skin.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:42" }, { "id": "6e2b6cc8-7012-4ed8-a985-4b47d2eff237", "slug": "description-is-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/description-is-what", "text": "Description is what makes the reader a sensory participant in the story. Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons why you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It's not just a question of how-to, you see; it's also a question of how much to. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of writing will help you with the how. You can learn only by doing.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:42" }, { "id": "6b0a44fa-3bcf-4708-b92c-2cbf736b4ec7", "slug": "i-think-we-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/i-think-we-had", "text": "I think we had a lot of happiness in those days, but we were scared a lot, too.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "fear", "slug": "fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear" }, { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:42" }, { "id": "5c250882-5c10-4c5e-8486-14ebfa5a29e6", "slug": "in-my-character", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/in-my-character", "text": "In my character, a kind of wildness and a deep conservatism are wound together like hair in a braid.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "character", "slug": "character", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/character" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:42" }, { "id": "323306bf-9b6e-45e3-9654-69c618cb9194", "slug": "i-remember-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/i-remember-the", "text": "I remember the dark, the sense that I was suffocating, and I remember laughing. Because, while what was happening was sort of horrible, it was also funny. In many ways, Eula-Beulah prepared me for literary criticism.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "criticism", "slug": "criticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/criticism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:42" }, { "id": "12c7139d-83e3-4874-8e96-08f16c495718", "slug": "if-you-want", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/on-writing/if-you-want", "text": "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" }, { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Writing#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:42" } ] }