“What Writing Is”
I have written an article in another Blog summarizing several sections in Stephen King's book. This article is about another section of his intriguing book.
Stephen King’s “What Writing Is”
4. What Writing Is —pp.103-107
Stephen King suggests: “Telepathy,
of course.” Writing is telepathy.
Writing about telepathy, King
suggests that we are “downstream on the time-line”. We are in the here-and-now
and as he writes from the past, he projects images into our minds through the
words he writes.
King is writing the book On
Writing: A Memoir of the Craft in December of 1997 and
states his book was planned to be published in 2000. He presents the case for writing as telepathy and describes a scene that he wants us to visualize. He is in his “seeing place” he calls the “basement” a place that he has built up over the years. He imagines that his readers are in their “seeing place” which may be a treetop or rooftop. (Ironically, he suggests the World Trade Center.) He imagines us in our “far-seeing place” where we receive telepathic messages.
We may be reading anywhere or anytime but imagines us in our “favorite place”: an easy chair, on a porch—anywhere we “receive” the best. He transmits; you receive over distance and time. King describes a scene—you see it—visualize it. He and his readers are engaged in the art of telepathy. This is his approach to the act of writing. He says, “We’re having a meeting of the minds.”states his book was planned to be published in 2000. He presents the case for writing as telepathy and describes a scene that he wants us to visualize. He is in his “seeing place” he calls the “basement” a place that he has built up over the years. He imagines that his readers are in their “seeing place” which may be a treetop or rooftop. (Ironically, he suggests the World Trade Center.) He imagines us in our “far-seeing place” where we receive telepathic messages.
He describes a scene—it could be any scene—and we can see
it. The shades of color may vary when he says red or a tablecloth which could
be a variety of shapes or colors. We can come very close to understanding
exactly what he describes.
When we read a book, we imagine, see, interpret, and compare
our experiences. If we read Homer, or Shakespeare or anything at all over the
past 2,000 years, the history of writing, we “receive” the ideas sent from the
authors over time and space. We know their thoughts and meaning. King
encourages us to join in the telepathic process by not only receiving but in transmitting, too.
King writes, “All the
arts depend upon telepathy to some degree, but I believe that writing offers
the purest distillation.” Since words transmit concrete meaning, we can receive
the depth of the writer’s intent. We receive the mind of the author in our
minds. Telepathy, of course.
The first 100 or so pages of the book are a prelude to what
he says next. King wraps up this section this way. You can approach writing
however you want but “…you must not come lightly to the blank page.” You must
come with passion, with intent, with will, with desire. He ends by saying “If
you take writing seriously, we can do business.”
So if we read and receive from authors, according to Stephen
King, we too can possibly transmit through writing and becoming author’s ourselves!
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