Video: 20 Writing and Screenwriting Tips from Stephen King

Advice from the noted author whose writing movie credits include Carrie, The Green Mile, and The Shawshank Redemption.

Outstanding Screenplays with a new video compilation featuring Stephen King, author of over 70 books including movie adaptations including Carrie, The Shining, Children of the Corn, Green Mile, and The Shawshank Redemption.

There are lots of great tips in the video and it’s always great to hear King talk about the craft in his own voice, but let’s zero in on this nugget:

Follow characters and situations and see where they go, instead of resorting to plot.

This is a big deal for King. He’s not a fan of plot, but rather come up with an intriguing situation, stick a compelling character into it, then see where the story goes.

For nearly a year, I’ve been running a series called Sundays with Stephen King’s “On Writing” featuring excerpts from his excellent memoir on the craft. In it, he talks about this very point:

“I want to put a group of characters in some sort of predicament and then watch them try to work themselves free.”

I think the best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event, which is to say character-driven.”

To see King’s other nineteen tips on writing and screenwriting, watch the video clip above.

For more Outstanding Screenplay videos, go here.

For the Sunday with Stephen King’s “On Writing” series, go here.

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