Recently I finished two books in quick succession. The
first, Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft; the second, Steve
Jobs, the biography written by Walter Isaacson. On the surface, the books may
seem unrelated. I mean, how can you compare a book on fiction writing against a
biography of one of the most polarizing business icons in the last 100 years? My
answer – Easily!! The truth is, the books are very much related . . . in soul
and essence, in philosophy, and in power.
First, let’s just take the principle characters. Stephen
King is simply one of the most prolific writers ever. His tales of horror,
supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy have sold over 350
million copies worldwide and have been adapted into numerous films. Steve Jobs
only changed the world as we know it by revolutionizing six industries:
personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and
digital publishing. He is the driving force behind iconic products like the
Mac. iPod, iPhone, and iPad.
In reading King’s book and Jobs’ biography, I found a common
thread woven throughout the pages, an insight into their drive and motivation.
I also saw how both men intuitively connected with everyday people—both in the
books they wanted to read and in the electronic gadgets they craved. What
follows is a few quotes from both men that I found strikingly similar.
King: “Writing isn’t
about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making
friends. In the end it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your
work, and enriching your own life as well. It’s about getting up, getting well,
and getting over. Getting happy . . .”
Jobs: “Your work is going
to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to
do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love
what you do.”
King: “If you want to be
a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.
There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”
Jobs: “I’m convinced that about half of what
separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure
perseverance.... Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you’re not going
to survive. You’re going to give it up.”
About Reaching People.
King: “All the arts
depend upon telepathy to some degree, but I believe that writing is the purest
distillation. An important element of writing is transference. Your job isn't
to write words on the page, but rather to transfer the ideas inside your head
into the heads of your readers.”
Jobs:
“. . .it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We
figure out what we want . . . to think through whether a lot of other people
are going to want it, too.”
King: “You cannot hope to
sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to
you.”
Jobs: “Our
belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they
would continue to open their wallets.”
About Taking Risks.
King: “There is no gain
without risk.” and “Good writing is often about letting go of fear.”
Jobs: “Be
curious, experiment, take risks.” and “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
Jobs had a remarkable ability to develop products that
consumers savored. Tim Cook once said about Jobs that he “had this incredible
and uncanny ability to see around the corner” and a “relentless, driving force
for perfection.” Stephen King has a similar driving force for his craft. His ability
to connect with his readers is obvious. He talks about writing as a form of
telepathy, a way of transferring ideas and imagery and characters that stirs
the reader’s imagination. He has an undeniable talent
for putting his readers into the world he creates.
My takeaway from all this? The tenacity and passion of both
men truly inspires me. However, that alone isn’t enough. Let’s face it, the
world is full of smart, hardworking, and determined entrepreneurs who’ve
failed. The same is true for writers. As
Mr. King famously stated, “I can't lie and say there are no bad writers. Sorry,
but there are lots of bad writers.” And unfortunately, with modern technology
bad writers keep pushing out bad stories. It is called the slush pile
for a reason! MY job as a writer is to pursue my craft with my whole heart, and
in so doing create the absolutely best story I can, one that connects with my
readers on a heart level. Moe than money, I long for my stories to touch people
and sweep them away just as I’ve been swept away by the power of words on a
page.
Now it’s time for me to walk the talk. According to Mr.
King—“The scariest moment is always just before you start.” I can already feel my heart racing.
No comments:
Post a Comment