Stephen King has published over 60 novels across his storied career. From Carrie to The Shining, King is well-known for crafting works that explore the darkest and most terrifying reaches of the human imagination. Yet it turns out that this master of suspense, chaos, and the unexpected has a rather reliable daily routine.
Stephen King’s routine
King described his daily routine in precise detail in his 2000 book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. His main strategy is a daily word count that he upholds religiously, even on holidays.
For years, the author aimed to write 2000 words per day, every single day. “If I don’t write every day, the characters begin to stale off in my mind—they begin to seem like characters instead of real people,” he wrote in On Writing. “The tale’s narrative cutting edge starts to rust and I begin to lose my hold on the story’s plot and pace. Worst of all, the excitement of spinning something new begins to fade. The work starts to feel like work, and for most writers that is the smooch of death.”
In a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, King revealed that in more recent years, his target daily word count has shrunk to around 1000 words. Still, his adherence to it almost never falters, except for 10 or 12 days after he finishes a new manuscript when he forces himself to take a break. “During that time off, I drive my wife crazy. She says, ‘Get out of my way, get out of the house, go do something—paint a birdhouse, anything!’” King said.
Typically, King follows a strict daily schedule. In On Writing, he revealed that he wakes up around 6 or 7 A.M. and begins his days with a cup of water or tea. He then sits at his desk, which is always arranged in exactly the same way and which faces a wall instead of a window. At around 8 A.M., he sits down and writes until he reaches his target word count, which can take until anywhere from 11:30 A.M. to 2 P.M.
For King, following the same routine every day is critical to his creative process. “The cumulative purpose of doing these things the same way every day is a way of saying to the mind, you’re going to be dreaming soon,” he noted.
After he reaches his daily word count, King’s next step is exercise. He typically walks around four miles per day, which he considers a vital step in balancing out all the mental activity that writing requires. In the Rolling Stone interview, he shared that in more recent years, he’s begun starting his days with a three-mile walk, followed by his daily writing sessions.
After he finishes his writing and exercise, he usually takes an afternoon nap. Then he spends a little time answering letters from fans and doing admin work. Nights are spent relaxing, watching sports games, reading, and spending time with his family.
Stephen King's rules for writing
For King, ideas aren’t forced. Instead, they’re discovered. “Good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun,” he shared in On Writing. “Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”
Many of his stories come from dreams, nightmares, and the liminal space between sleep and waking. “So where do the ideas—the salable ideas—come from? They come from my nightmares. Not the night-time variety, as a rule, but the ones that hide just beyond the doorway that separates the conscious from the unconscious,” he continued.
There are a few strategies that King uses to make sure the stream of ideas keeps flowing freely. One of them is reading extensively. The author reads up to 80 books per year and is a major believer that writers should read widely and often. “You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you…” he said. “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.”
He also strives to finish story drafts within three months. “I believe the first draft of a book—even a long one—should take no more than three months, the length of a season,” he continued. “Any longer and—for me, at least—the story begins to take on an odd foreign feel, like a dispatch from the Romanian Department of Public Affairs.”
The final step is revisions, a step that King enacts mercilessly. “When your story is ready for rewrite, cut it to the bone,” he said. “Get rid of every ounce of excess fat. This is going to hurt; revising a story down to the bare essentials is always a little like murdering children, but it must be done.”