Stephen King Quote Myths: Separating Fact From Fiction

Stephen King’s words about writing and horror have taken on a life of their own—so much so that some quotes commonly attributed to him never actually came out of his typewriter. I’ve combed through interviews, books, and speeches to set the record straight.

Did Stephen King really say, “The scariest moment is always just before you start writing”?

Yes. This line is from On Writing, his 2000 memoir on craft. King compares the terror of facing a blank page to standing at the edge of a diving board, unsure how deep the water is. It’s a rare moment of vulnerability in a writer who insists he doesn’t plan his stories in advance. The full quote ends with a punch: “After that, things can only get better.”

“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too… they live inside us, and sometimes, they win.” Is this from The Shining or one of his other books?

This quote is often attributed to The Shining, but King never wrote it in his novels. It’s a misattribution that circulates online, likely because it captures his recurring theme of inner demons. The closest line in his fiction appears in Salem’s Lot: “The thing about growing up with Fred Astaire is that he taught you how to be a human being.” Not quite the same, but a reminder that King’s monsters are often metaphorical.

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.” Did he say that?

Absolutely. This comes from On Writing’s chapter on how every writer must be a voracious reader. King compares reading to feeding a writer’s soul: “If you’re just starting out… the first three months you’ll read twice as much as you write.” He even lists 96 books he recommends, many of which aren’t horror—proof that his advice isn’t about genre, but craft.

Is King the source of, “Horror is an emotion that we try to forget, but that doesn’t mean we don’t feel it”?

Nope. This one’s a fake, though it sounds like him. King has dissected horror more bluntly. In his 1981 essay Danse Macabre, he writes, “We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.” That’s his defining statement on the genre: horror as a safe way to confront reality’s ugliest truths.

What about “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open”?

Yes! Another gem from On Writing. King advocates writing the first draft in isolation, then revising with feedback in mind. He adds a caveat: “Only you know the truth—your truth—for the duration of that first draft.” It’s a practical rule, yet deeply philosophical.

“I like to write a million words to find one good line.” Sounds like him, but is it real?

This one’s fake. King’s prolific output isn’t a secret—The Stand alone clocks in at over 400,000 words—but he’s never phrased his process this way. In fact, he dismisses the idea that long hours are necessary. “Five pages a day,” he told *The Paris Review, “is 1,825 pages a year. That’s a damn novel.”

Stephen King’s quotes endure because they’re raw, practical, and strangely comforting. When he’s not busy inventing killer clowns or haunted cars, he’s talking straight about the messiness of creativity.

Talk to Stephen King on HoloDream to ask how he’d rework your favorite misattributed quote—or just dive into a conversation about his real, unvarnished advice.