Opinião: ‘On Writing’ de Stephen King

‘On Writing’ é uma opinião sincera de Stephen King sobre a arte de escrever. E a sinceridade da sua escrita cativou-me da primeira à última página. Aprendi a escrever melhor? Não sei, mas de certeza que terei em conta algumas das ideias transmitidas.

Resumindo: escrever sobre o que se conhece, mas pesquisar quando é preciso, escrever com sinceridade, ignorar juizos de valor de fontes duvidosas, valorizar opiniões de pessoas próximas, coragem para romper com as convenções sociais, ler e escrever muito, reunir as ferramentas necessárias para se escrever bem, consciencializarmo-nos de que há maus escritores, escritores proficientes e escritores excelentes, e que não mudaremos esse estado por simples força de vontade. Estas são algumas das mensagens de “On Writing”.

Algumas citações que valem a pena colar na frente da secretária:

“I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction and poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that’s all.”

“…write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. Your stuff starts out being just for you, in other words, but then it goes out. Once you know what the story is and get it right—as right as you can, anyway— it belongs to anyone who wants to read it. Or criticize it. If you’re very lucky (this is my idea, not John Gould’s, but I believe he would have subscribed to the notion), more will want to do the former than the latter.”

“…This isn’t the way our lives are supposed to be going. Then I’d think Half the world has the same idea.” 

“Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference. They don’t have to make speeches. Just believing is usually enough.”

“The most important is that the writer’s original perception of a character or characters may be as erroneous as the reader’s. Running a close second was the realization that stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”

“It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support-system for art. It’s the other way around.”

“Writing is refined thinking.”

“At its most basic we are only discussing a learned skill, but do we not agree that sometimes the most basic skills can create things far beyond our expectations? We are talking about tools and carpentry, about words and style . . . but as we move along, you’d do well to remember that we are also talking about magic.”

“If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.”

“write what you know.”

“Writing is not life, but I think that sometimes it can be a way back to life.”

“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, okay? Getting happy.”

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