How to Write Content By Writing Like Stephen King
If you need to know how to write content for your marketing cycles you need look no further than The Shining!
I know, I know–what does Stephen King have to do with content marketing, Dylan!?
WAY MORE THAN YOU THINK!
Here’s the thing: I’ve been doing this content writing thing for two years now (whooooo!) and it is incredibly difficult to generate consistent content.
(The eagle-eyed among you may even notice that, sometimes, I cheat the system and backdate my content because coming up with content is hard! And then I play catch up later)
But, back to King and his prolific writing career. What’s his secret?
Content Writing Stephen King-Style
It’s almost impossible to go through life without absorbing some type of content Stephen King has had a hand in. Cult classics like IT and The Stand have left their marks across generations. First by their novelization and then by their adaptation to the silver screen (with some of them even getting recent remakes for future generations to enjoy and appreciate).
And here is how he does it:
He never starts with an outline…
Yeah.
You read that right.
Stephen King didn’t start with an outline or even an ending in mind for The Green Mile. He has even been quoted to say that to have everything outlined would ruin the fun. He loves when the characters and plot just kind of run themselves.
Rather than let the story be forced into a specific lane, he allows it to live and breathe and move.
Maybe those of us in content marketing need to take a page from King here.
How to write content like King
What if…
…instead of heavily outlined content briefs and keywords and predetermined meta descriptions, we just wrote about a topic…and just let it happen.
Would our content be any better? No way to know until you try, honestly, but it would definitely make the content feel a lot more authentic.
Let’s get super practical here…
How to write ad content like King
Instead of working with the exact same template for every ad we create let’s try and start with something creative and new. Let it run its course.
Yes, of course, tweak and optimize and edit.
But break out of the box and let the ad creatives lead the copy. Templates are good and helpful, but could they be improved by experimentation and creativity??
King-like blog content
Instead of the hierarchy of headings optimized for keywords, the same exact first sentence that uses your keyword and copy that is stuffed with SEO best practices…
…try to just write what comes naturally.
Want to know a secret?
I actually write the same way Stephen King does for my own content marketing materials.
I find a topic that sounds relevant and interesting and I just run with it and let it form itself. I keep SEO in mind and keywords in mind. But I have been known to edit out good SEO in favor of better conversational writing.
If you like what you are reading, then you should try it out for yourself! This is pretty much all there is to know how to write content like King himself. Just get started and give it a shot!
Speaking of liking what you see…
I (try) to write blog posts every week. Sometimes it is about micro content that I just find interesting. Sometimes it is hyper-focused on marketing (kinda like this one), but other times it focuses on other topics and industries that I love (like publishing and writing!)…
…but if you ever come across something and think, “Dang! This boy can write!” then I would love to say, “Aww, shucks. You can just hire me if you want!”
All it takes is a quick email or a brief contact form. I don’t mind either way (but my emails are probably way more interesting than a contact form, honestly).
And, hey, if you like this post about how to write content like Stephen King, then check out some of the other stuff on the DSM Blog.
As I always say…
I appreciate you, friend!
