Try any goddam thing you like, no matter how boringly normal or outrageous. If it works, fine. If it doesn't, toss it. Toss it even if you love it.
Stephen KingRead
With six weeks' worth of recuperation time, you'll also be able to see any glaring holes in the plot or character development. And listen--if you spot a few of these big holes, you are forbidden to feel depressed about them or to beat up on yourself. Screw-ups happen to the best of us.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Mistakes are part of the creative process, and taking a break can help identify issues in your work without self-criticism.
In this quote, Stephen King emphasizes the importance of allowing oneself to recuperate and reflect on creative work. By taking a break, one gains fresh perspective to identify flaws and imperfections in plot or character development, and it's crucial to approach these discoveries with compassion for oneself, as mistakes are a natural part of the creative journey.
Themes
RecuperationCreative ProcessSelf-CompassionMistakesPlot Holes
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote when discussing the importance of breaks in the writing process.
More from Stephen King
All quotes →Eddie discovered one of his childhood's great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.
Stephen KingRead
Hairstyles change, and skirt lengths, and slang, but high school administrations? Never.
Stephen KingRead
Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.
Stephen KingRead
That's the day's business. Thinking. Thinking and isolation, because it doesn't matter if you pass the time of day with someone or not; in the end, you're alone. He seemed to have put in as many miles in his brain as he had with his feet. The thoughts kept coming and there was no way to deny them.
Stephen KingRead
Late last night and the night before, tommyknockers, tommyknockers knocking on my door. I wanna go out, don't know if I can 'cuz I'm so afraid of the tommyknocker man.
Stephen KingRead
Similar quotes
The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.
Thomas JeffersonRead
Conscious faith is freedom. Emotional faith is slavery. Mechanical faith is foolishness.
G. I. GurdjieffRead
Evils in the journey of life are like the hills which alarm travelers upon their road; they both appear great at a distance, but when we approach them we find that they are far less insurmountable than we had conceived.
Charles Caleb ColtonRead
Writer's block is a natural affliction. Writers who have never experienced it have something wrong with them. It means there isn't enough friction-that they aren't making enough of an effort to reconcile the contradictions of life. All you get is sweet monotonous flow. Writer's block is nothing to commit suicide over. It simply indicates some imbalance between your experience and your art, and I think that's constructive.
Stanley KunitzRead
You wake up one day and suddenly realize that your youth is behind you, even though you're still young at heart.
Joni MitchellRead
Stressful energy arises when you think some future moment is more important than the present moment, and the doing becomes only a means to an end.
Eckhart TolleRead