The advice comes from Stephen King in his 2000 book On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft.
If you aspire to be a competent writer (and leave 90 percent of the rest of us behind) you must do two things:
- Read a lot;
- Write a lot.
It doesn’t matter what you plan to produce. It could be a poem, fiction, non-fiction, a speech or a policy document.
King’s two simple rules teaches all of us about “style, graceful narration, plot development, the creating of believable characters and truth-telling”.
King says continual reading and writing is a spur, “goading the writer to work harder and aim higher”.
Being swept away by a combination of great story and great writing–of being flattened, in fact, is part of every writer’s necessary formation. You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.”
Stephen King, On Writing, Pg. 146.
King also makes a controversial claim: While it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one,
“….it is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one.”
Stephen King, On Writing, Pg. 142
I guess the lesson is you’re born with some of it, but have to work for the rest.
Tough, but probably true.
Ian Hanna 