Many creative people produce a high volume of work, but the ones who are truly prolific are usually the most notable.

Why are some people able to generate an impressive amount of output and others not so much? We did some digging into some “prolific” individuals who are well known for both the quality and quantity of their work. We chose individuals in the creative fields of writing, filmmaking, art, and music.

Writing:

There are a multitude of prolific writers out there, but the one that everyone seems to know, is the master of horror, Stephen King. His work has transcended the pages of books—many of his novels and short stories have been turned into movies and TV shows. (For example: Carrie, The Green Mile, Cujo, The Shining, etc…) Stephen King has written over 50 novels, 18 novellas, and over 100 short stories.

Photo by Shane Leonard

How does he get so much done?

In a quote from his book, Stephen King: On Writing, he spells out his philosophy. “I believe the first draft of a book—even a long one—should take no more than three months, the length of a season. 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 … I like to get ten pages a day, which amounts to 2,000 words. That’s 180,000 words over a three-month span, a goodish length for a book … only under dire circumstances do I allow myself to shut down before I get my 2,000 words.”

His advice is sound. Get your project done in a blast of creativity; don’t worry about the details until after you’ve finished the bulk of the work.

For more information on Stephen King, check out his website: www.stephenking.com.

© by MARTINA DALTON, Designer, Allovus Design

Stay tuned for part two, where we will cover the prolific filmmaker, Joss Whedon.