Three things I learned from Stephen King

This is a question: Which is right, A or B?
A. The man was held by the cottage while he rusticated extensively.
B. The man stayed at the cottage for a long time.
You're correct. Of course it's B! But how did you know something like that? How were you sure?

Stephen King says that sometimes you just know.  When you have the skill you can be sure.

I used to worry about my small vocabulary. Granted it was bigger than some people's but it just didn't seem big enough to be a writer. That's wrong, said King. It isn't what you have, it's how you use it. When an experienced writer needs a word they know what word to put in there. With the small available space in feature writing, this sureness is important.

You can say it's that way with adverbs too. Beginning writers often use the adverb as a way to make certain everybody knows exactly the way Jill sniffed the flowers. An experienced writer, King said, can use the context and character development of Jill to show that she's not the sort to sniff eagerly or rapturously. When they write knowingly about everything else they can cut excess words. Always cut excess words. Your readers will praise you...rapturously! (For instance this paragraph is too long.)

 The third thing I learned from King seemed especially important for feature writing: the passive voice. The man stayed, not the man was held!  The journalist needs power. Passive writing is the death of power. And no, that statement is not scientifically tested.

I just know it's true.