I simply must say that the first thing that I can remember learning from Stephen King is that the plot of the story isn't as important as the reader knowing who the characters are. I think that the reason people are scared when they read a horror novel or see a horror film is because they can find a character that they relate to and it scares them because they start to think that something horrible could happen to them as well. Getting to know who the characters are also helps the audience root for what jerk will be the "next to go" and who they want to see live till the end.
The second thing that I learned from Stephen King is to get the first draft done quickly. I have found this to be very good advise. Once you have a good idea of what your going to say everything else just seems to fall into place like it was meant to go there in the first place. Then when the first draft is finished then you can go back and play with the thoughts and make it the best it could possibly be.
And last but not least, the third thing that I have learned is that when you love what you do then you'll be happy. I certainly don't want to be working a job that I'm going to hate for the rest of my life. I want a job that will give me the room for creativity and not just doing the same repetitive thing everyday. I believe that Stephen King loves what he does and it shows in his work; I want to strive to be the same way and find what makes me happy in life.
Photo credit: meeg-el, courtesy of Flickr.com.
Photo credit: meeg-el, courtesy of Flickr.com.
