Stephen King: On Writing

• "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 if 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" (P. 37)

• "write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. Your stuff starts out being just in you, in other words, but then it goes out." (P. 57)
• "It [Writing] starts with putting your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support-system for art. It's the other way around." (P. 101)
• "But it's writing, damn it, not washing the car or putting in eyeliner. If you can take it seriously we can do business. If you can't or won't, it's time for you to close the book and do something else.  Wash the car, maybe." (P. 107)
• "Remember the basic rule of vocabulary is use the first word that comes to your mind, if it is appropriate and colorful" (p. 118)
• "And DO feel free to take appropriateness into account; as George Carlin once observed, in some company it's perfectly all right to prick your finger, but very bad form to finger your prick" (p. 118) 

• Try not to use the word "with"

• Don't use the passive voice, and the adverb is not your friend! (Adverbs are the ones usually ending in -ly, like FIRMLY)
• "Adverbs, like the passive voice, seem to have been created with the timid writer in mind" (p. 124)
• "Practice the art, always reminding yourself that your job is to say what you see, and then get on with the story" (p. 181) ~don't be too descriptive
• "Not bad, but puffy. You need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft - 10%. Good luck." (P. 222)