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.
In both writing and sleeping, we learn to be physically still at the same time we are encouraging our minds to unlock from the humdrum rational thinking of our daytime lives.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that both writing and sleeping allow us to calm our bodies while freeing our minds for creativity and exploration beyond everyday thoughts.
Stephen King highlights the dual nature of writing and sleeping, where both activities require a physical stillness, yet open the pathways for our minds to explore deeper, more imaginative thoughts. In a world often constrained by the mundane and logical, these practices provide a sanctuary for our creativity to flourish, allowing us to break free from the limits of rational thinking and engage with more profound insights and ideas.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a writing workshop to encourage participants to embrace their creativity.
More from Stephen King
All quotes →Eddie discovered one of his childhood's great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.
Hairstyles change, and skirt lengths, and slang, but high school administrations? Never.
Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.
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.
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.
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Sleep makes the silence and the terrible fear go by more quickly, helps pass the time, since it's impossible to kill.