"Seeing or Hearing Clearly and Then Transcribing"

Best-selling author, Stephen King, refers to these core ideas on good storytelling: "...that practice is invaluable (and should feel good, really not like practice at all) and that honesty is indispensable. Skills in description, dialogue, and character development all boil down to seeing or hearing clearly and then transcribing what you see or hear with equal clarity (and without using a lot of tiresome, unnecessary adverbs)." p. 195* One might add "or unnecessary adjectives."

He states that, "...good writing consists of mastering the fundamentals (vocabulary, grammar, the elements of style)" and with "hard work, dedication, and timely help," a good writer can be made out of a merely competent one. "

Stephen King also wrote, "If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write."

* Stephen King, On Writing ~ A Memoir of the Craft, Scribner, 2000.