Stephen King’s writing routine: 10 lessons in being prolific
Everyone remembers their first interaction with a Stephen King story.
Whether it’s sleepless nights after watching It, awe when witnessing John Coffey’s powers in The Green Mile, or shock that the same man who wrote The Shining also penned The Shawshank Redemption.
When Stephen King types, something shudders through the fabric of reality. It’s tough to name a fiction writer—dead or alive—who has impacted culture and media more than him.
But his success didn’t happen overnight. With over 60 novels, 11 short story collections, and five non-fiction books (plus countless drafts that never saw the light of day), how did one man create so many iconic, genre-defining, and genre-defying stories?
In his 2000 book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King documented his entire writing process. If you’re seeking just a fraction of his skill and motivation to craft your own stories, let’s explore his writing routine.
1. Ask ‘What if’ questions to recognise story ideas
King believes ideas are like fossils: they should be uncovered and revealed. His writer’s lens allows him to spot ideas, and build connections to make something entirely new.
“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.”
King reads up to 80 books every year, and he credits reading for helping him learn from other writers. He believes reading widely and consistently helps improve one's craft: develop a style, recognize great dialogue, write appropriately-lengthed descriptions, and know what not to do.
“You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing unti it has been done to you… If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.”
Many of King’s story ideas come from simple questions often starting with ‘What if?’, revealing interesting possible (and impossible) situations.
“What if vampires invaded a small New England village? (Salem’s Lot)
What if a young mother and her son became trapped in their stalled car by a rabid dog? (Cujo)
These were all situations which occurred to me—while showering, while driving, while taking my daily walk—and which I eventually turned into books.”
2. Set every day goals and a project completion deadline
King sets a word count goal for every day (including holidays), aiming for a target of 2,000 words (roughly 10 pages). He writes much like an athlete would train: obsessively, with momentum, and in a disciplined manner. He writes at this velocity so his story drafts remain fresh and familiar.
“If I don’t write every day, the characters begin to stale off in my mind—they begin to seem like characters instead of real people. The tale’s narrative cutting edge starts to rust and I begin to lose my hold on the story’s plot and pace. Worst of all, the excitement of spinning something new begins to fade. The work starts to feel like work, and for most writers that is the smooch of death.”
With his everyday goal set, King focuses on finalizing a story draft within three months for the same reason: freshness, familiarity, and energy.
“I believe the first draft of a book—even a long one—should take no more than three months, the length of a season. Any longer and—for me, at least—the story begins to take on an odd foreign feel, like a dispatch from the Romanian Department of Public Affairs.”
3. Set up a distraction-free workstation that supports your art
When King settles down to write, his workstation is ready: metal music blasting, no phone, no TV, and on top of that, his desk is in a unique position: not facing out the window, but facing the corner.
“It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there 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.”
For King, writing time is as important to schedule and habituate as sleep. Both writing and sleep encourage our minds to unlock from the ‘everyday’ to work out the “imagined waking dreams which are successful works of fiction.”
“I think we’re actually talking about creative sleep. Like your bedroom, your writing room should be private, a place where you go to dream. ”
4. Write for your ‘ideal reader’
During the story’s composition, King focuses on what his ideal reader would think and feel. King’s ideal reader (and the first reader of each new work) is his wife, Tabitha. King credits Tabitha’s readthroughs for getting him out of a bad spot many times.
“She and I may argue about many aspects of a book, and there have been times when I’ve gone against her judgment on subjective matters, but when she catches me in a goof, I know it, and thank God I’ve got someone around who’ll tell me my fly’s unzipped before I go out in public that way.”
Having this first reader in mind helps King consider how they might react to some scenes, and whether they will resonate with a story.
Tabitha King and Stephen King.
5. Create intuitively until you finish a first draft
King does not outline his stories or plan his plot. He works intuitively with the elements of storytelling having honed the skills of his craft hundreds of times over.
“I distrust plot for two reasons: first, because our lives are largely plaotless, even when you add in all our reasonable precautions and careful planning: and second, because I believe plotting and the spontaneity of real creation aren’t compatible.”
While King lets the story unfold organically, he expresses the need to push on until the draft is complete, especially when facing self-doubt.
“...stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”
6. Focus on writing paragraphs, not sentences
King argues that the paragraph, not the sentence, is the basic unit of writing and where coherence starts to build within a story. His advice is to put down paragraph after paragraph until your work is complete.
“Words create sentences; sentences create paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe.”
7. Return to your edits after a long layoff
Once you’ve written your draft, King’s advice is to leave it in a drawer and completely forget about it for a minimum of six weeks. He then completes his first edits in one sitting if possible to take advantage of the freshness and ‘unfamiliarity’ of the text.
After being apart from your story for so long, you will recognise the story as yours, and yet it’ll feel like someone else's. If you’ve ever edited somebody else’s writing, you’ll know how much easier it is than editing your own. After creating distance, you’ll see huge opportunities to strengthen your story.
“With six weeks’ worth of recuperation time, you’ll also be able to see any glaring holes in the plot of character development. I’m talking about holes big enough to drive a truck through.”
8. Cut 10% during editing
In high school King received a single note on a fiction piece that changed the way he edited forever:
“Not bad, but PUFFY. You need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft — 10%. Good luck.”
Within this 10% cut, King ensures his sentences are in active voice and removes adverbs (his mortal enemy). He also cuts down his descriptions so that there is mental space for a reader to form a moving picture in their mind. He leaves what’s best for the story, not for the writer, even if it hurts him.
“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”
9. Ask big questions around character and coherence
The most glaring errors that King finds in his edits are around character motivation. This is not quite character development, but actions character make that may not fit their character.
When this happens, King write something like ‘Sandy would never do anything like this!’ and marks the page with a symbol to edit thoroughly later.
In the editing phases, King asks big questions around the text and whether themes and coherence shine through.
“The biggest (question): is this story coherent? And if it is, what will turn coherence into a song? What are the recurring elements? Do they entwine and make a theme?”
10. Story first, theme and description second
King suggests writers focus on telling the story rather than consciously building a theme, saying that themes will naturally emerge during editing.
A compelling storytelling is also more important to him than elegant prose.
“What I want most of all is resonance, something that will linger for a little while in Constant Reader’s [sic] mind (and heart) after he or she has closed the book and put it up on the shelf.”
King goes through his edits about a dozen times until a story ends up in the hands of his publisher, and until it’s ready for us to read.
We write to tell the truth
We can't all write 2,000 words a day or finish a book in three months. We can't all be Stephen King.
But we can be inspired by his dedication, learn from his prolific energy, and apply some of his writing wisdom.
There's a particular joy in how King talks about his process, especially when he reminds us that writing gives you the freedom to explore anything—as long as you 'tell the truth.'
I find that especially empowering.
Even when stories are about elves, spaceships, or monsters, fiction helps us confront essential truths about the human condition. We empathize with characters, learn from their choices, and experience emotions that reflect our own. Fiction is a kind of magic that builds a bridge between writer and reader through the characters and words we create.
This ability to share universal truths is what sets us apart from AI, and always will.
So don't let the routine of a prolific writer intimidate you. Let it inspire you to learn from the greats so you can tell your own truths.
