Stephen King has had one of the most prolific writing careers of our time––of all time, really. If you haven’t read Stephen King, you’ve probably watched a movie or TV show adaptation of one of his books. Odds are, many of you have done both.
How does Stephen King write his stories?
King’s writing method is a breath of fresh air: King doesn’t outline his books, nor does he go in with a solid idea of where the story is heading or how it’ll end. That would ruin the fun, he says.
Instead, King starts with an idea––a character, a place, a moment––and works from there. He’s written a laundry list of bestsellers with this routine.
Why is King’s method important for marketers?
Marketing can often be an intense, by-the-book, analytics-obsessed game. This results in cookie-cutter ads, templated blog posts, and marketers endlessly copying each other, praying for success.
But the most memorable marketing almost never arises from analytics-obsessed templates. It arises from somebody writing like Stephen King, starting with an idea, and seeing where the story takes them.
So, let this post serve as a reminder
Next time you write copy or brainstorm ad campaigns, take a step back from the numbers and the templates and the Twitter threads.
Write like Stephen King for a while––it’s almost necessary if you want to create something truly memorable.
