Who Knew?

So I am in the midst of reading Stephen King's On Writing. Yes, Stephen King. I have never read anything by Mr. King in my life. And good golly, is that man funny! Here is the scoop. I don't really entertain horror stories since they make me afraid. And being afraid makes me feel uncomfortable. Have you ever had a one of those nights where you just went to see a spooooooky scary movie, and you come home to go to bed all by your lonesome? And then every little creek of the house or sigh of the wind is certainly Jason/Freddy/ghoul/goblin out to get you?

I don't like it. Sorry!

But Mr. King has some really great things to say about the craft of writing. Of course he would. Goodreads shows that he has "598 distinct works." Whatever distinct is supposed to mean. 598? Are you kidding me? How is that even possible? Of course, some of these are screenplays or written with other authors. I'm sure there are some short story anthologies in the mix. Whatever! Doesn't matter. The man has proven his street cred when it comes to the craft of writing.

And who knew I would take such delight in his style or in the little gems of wisdom sprinkled throughout? I most certainly did not see that coming. I will do a full review upon finishing this later. But today I wanted to share one of those many little gems.

"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."

I think I've read that now twenty times over. It's advice I didn't know I'd been seeking all along. As an aspiring writer (one who has now started planning and writing her first novel), I need reassurance. The idea I'm writing about currently came out of nowhere. I was hoping for my Harry Potter moment...that I would literally stumble across the perfect story idea. But Mr. King just confirmed that there may not be such a moment. Instead, I need to just recognize a good idea and write the story. The rest will take care of itself. After all, Rowling said that's the way it happened for her. The idea just came to her. And she wrote it.

So thanks Stephen King. I'm quite enchanted!