Whether for fiction, blogging, finance or whatever their job entails, good writers often carry skills that extend beyond their current responsibilities. For this reason (and because it’s spooky season), it is the perfect time to dive into Stephen King’s take on the writer’s toolbox – let’s see why building up a hefty arsenal of tools is worth the investment!
Level 1: Core tools
In Stephen King’s book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, he has a peculiar chapter titled “Toolbox”.
King recounts a childhood memory with his uncle Oren, who was a carpenter with a hefty 3-level toolbox. One summer day, the two were tasked with repairing a broken window screen. Once uncle Oren lugged his toolbox (estimated to be between 80 and 120 lbs.) to the scene and inspected the damage, he determined that a simple screwdriver was all that he needed.
Curious about why his uncle bothered with the entire toolbox when a single tool was enough, his uncle responded with:
“Yeah, but Stevie… I didn’t know what else I might find to do once I got out here, did I? It’s best to have your tools with you. If you don’t, you’re apt to find something you didn’t expect and get discouraged.”
This quote inspired King – and it helped him realise that being a capable writer also involved lugging around plenty of metaphorical tools.
“I want to suggest that to write to your best abilities, it behooves you to construct your own toolbox and then build up enough muscle so you can carry it with you,” King explains. “Then, instead of looking at a hard job and getting discouraged, you will perhaps seize the correct tool and get immediately to work.”
At the first level of any toolbox, you find the most commonly used tools – like a hammer or a flathead/Phillips head screwdriver. When translated to writing, King believes the first level is all about vocabulary and grammar.
The words you choose and the way you structure your sentences are the foundation of any writing. Regardless how proficient you are at using literary devices or at juggling different writing styles, poor word and sentence choices will not hold your material together.
However bizarre and twisted King’s stories may be, he often sticks to simple wording and grammar structures. This allows his story and plot to shine, whereas using convoluted words and structures may take away from the experience.
Remember, simple and simplistic are two different things. A simple story can still be engaging and entertaining, and in the contexts of marketing, content that is easy to understand is crucial for attracting (and maintaining) audience engagement.
Level 2: The tools of style
Once you’ve gotten to know your core tools, it’s time to work with more specialised equipment. King describes this section as the “elements of style”.
Although it sounds obscure and complicated, two tools are all you need:
1. Always use the active voice
2. Say no to adverbs
Let’s talk about the active voice – why should we use it? Compare the two examples below:
Passive: The project’s deadline has been pushed up by the client.
Active: The client has pushed up the project’s deadline.
“I think timid writers like them for the same reason timid lovers like passive partners,” King writes. “The passive voice is safe. There is no troublesome action to contend with… I think unsure writers also feel the passive voice somehow lends their work authority, perhaps even a quality of majesty.”
Although there isn’t anything inherently wrong with using the passive voice, it lacks the determination and persuasiveness of the active voice. With how important first impressions are in both writing and marketing, you’re sabotaging yourself by intentionally using weak sentence structures.
What about adverbs? Like the passive voice, they are also lacklustre at being descriptive. Compare the variations below:
The tomcat leapt off the tree and spun through the air with a deliberate grace.
The tomcat leapt off the tree and spun through the air deliberately and gracefully.
Mount Vesuvius devastated Pompeii with burning ash.
Mount Vesuvius devastatingly covered Pompeii in burning ash.
In either example, the option with the adverb always feels clunkier and less impressive – the added syllable with “-ly” doesn’t help either.
“With adverbs, the writer usually tells us he or she is afraid he/she isn’t expressing himself/herself clearly, that he or she is not getting the point or the picture across,” King describes.
Be confident in your ability to write. Ditch the adverbs and passive voice and you’ll find your writing more direct and approachable!
Level 3 and beyond: The tools that define you
The earlier levels are about developing an understanding for proper writing, but a robot could also develop such skills. You need to have your own brand of writing and level 3 onwards is where you learn to infuse your writing with personality.
For King’s line of work, having a defining writing style is essential, but the same is also true in marketing and advertising. As a brand, what makes your content different from that of a competitor? Having unique products are helpful, but if every brand uses the same manner of writing, customers have little reason to develop brand loyalty or establish a connection to your material.
Unfortunately, King has no big secret technique to teach here. We can certainly try to emulate how he writes, but in the end, we wouldn’t be developing our own style. This is why King recommends that we read as much as possible. The genre and topics are irrelevant – the more we read, the more styles of writing we come into contact with. From there, it’s about adapting what we’ve learned and piecing knowledge together to form our own brand of writing (or if writing on behalf of a client, picking up on and channelling their brand voice).
It takes a lot of experimentation to determine what combinations and styles work best for the job at hand, but that’s the life (and struggle) of becoming a seasoned writer, which is why it’s definitely worth the time and sweat to build up a proper foundation in our writer’s toolbox. The longer we get acquainted with our tools, the better we are at using and determining when to use them! So… how many levels do you have in your toolbox?