On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

It’s about Stephen king not about writingIf you are a fan you would probably like itIf not then don’t get itIt’s bits and pieces from his lifeNot worth itI read few pages and I put it aside.

Every January I start to look inward - thinking about what I achieve next year, and what I need to change to make it happen. Every year I come up against the same challenge: I want to be a fiction writer, but I don't write fiction. At all.I tell myself I don't have enough time. Sure, I'm the greatest living novelist to never write a novel, if only I could get time to write the damn thing. Which is why I reached for Stephen King's On Writing. One of the most successful writers in history must know something about his craft, right?Split into two parts, On Writing first tells the story of what made Stephen King a writer. At times hilarious and moving, but always honest, the first section had me laughing out loud (when his older brother tricks him into wiping his ass with Poison Ivy), marveling at his work ethic ("By the time I was fourteen the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it"), and amazed at his success.I also liked his writing.Now. Here's a strange thing: he's one of the most successful authors of all time, and I hadn't read a single one of Stephen King's books. I pride myself on the eclectic nature of the books I read, and yet I've not so much as flipped to the back cover of the Shining, or even grazed the spine of Carrie. Horror isn't a genre I'd pick up without some serious prompting, so maybe I needed a book like this to show me all the great stuff I was missing out on (straight afterwards I went out and bought a collection of his short stories, so it likely won't be a problem for long). But King's success is no accident - this cat can write.The second section is Uncle Stevie's how-to-guide for writers - a kind of framework for thinking about how you get the words down on the page, what words they should be ("The road to hell is paved with adverbs"), and getting rid of the words that don't belong ("To write is human, to edit is divine").It's this framework that separates On Writing from the rest of the pack; it helps you understand how the small stuff fits in to the big stuff - it reminds you how narrative, dialogue, character, sentence, and paragraph work together to create the whole story, without getting bogged down in the details for too long. I've not read anything else that paints the whole picture in a way that On Writing does, nor anything that fills you with the confidence to sit down in front of a blank page.Inspirational is what it is.Time to boot up the laptop and pop the kettle on again I think...

It was hard to put down. As always, his writing style is addictive and makes you want to keep reading.Apart from an autobiography, I didn't know what to expect, perhaps a few tips on writing. But no, he gives us more. He gives us the tools, and practical advice as to how we should write. He gives rules to follow and things to avoid. He has a "Do as I say, not do as I do" policy in regards to adverbs for example.As a writer myself, this book makes you want to re-evaluate your writing and sharpen your own tools. Sure, you cannot write like your favourite authors, but you can develop your own style and improve yourself. He tells it like a university lecturer and as a friend. This is the tone that inspires you to work harder. He believes in you.The autobiography itself tells us about his childhood, the first book he wrote, his inspirations, how his wife contributes to his works, the publication of his first novel, to how he survived a horrible accident. He may not look it, but Stephen King is a fighter, he carried on writing. It kept him going. This is an uplifting book.Who can possibly give the best advice on writing other than the best storyteller?Essential for Writers, a Must-have for King fans.

I bought this book for my partner’s dad last Christmas to encourage him to write, and he also bought it for my partner (apparently it makes a great gift!) so I’ve snuck in there and read it first.It took me a while to get into this book, and I think that’s because I was desperate to get to the writing advice bit. I was often tempted to just skip forward, but I persevered with the initial chapters (they’re not boring by any means, I just wanted the writing advice!)The first part of the book is a kind of memoir, as King recounts different events in his life that relate to his writing style and the genre he writes in too. It’s well written and enjoyable throughout, but I particularly like the later stages. I think everyone loves a good struggle-to-success story, and King’s is a great one. You can’t help but feel for him as he works hard to support his family and still manages to fit his writing in on the side. Just reading it made me want to write more and made me realise that excuses just don’t cut it – we’re all tired and busy, but if you really want to do something then you just get on and do it.And then we get to the part where he sells Carrie and I actually had tears in my eyes. When he’s told the amount of money he’s getting for it, and looks around and the tiny, terrible houses he’s living in, and knows his life is going to change – I think it’s every writer’s dream. I adore success stories like this.The actual writing advice is all very solid. Some of it is worded in a brilliant way that might cause a little revelation in you, but other bits are pretty standard advice that you’ll hear from all kinds of writers and editors. As always, there’s no magic formula for becoming a great writer or writing an amazing story – and anyone who tells you otherwise is not to be trusted – but there are certain skills you can develop and hone. I think the charm here is King’s bluntness and simple way of putting things – there’s no fluff here, no false hope, just a lot of great advice.I’d definitely recommend this book, for any King fans who want to know more about him and how he writes his books, and for aspiring writer’s who want some straightforward advice. It doesn’t promise to make you a better writer, but with this advice, it can’t make you any worse.

Towards the end, Stephen King confesses that this book took him a lot longer to finish than usual (<3 months). The first part - his memoir - is a carefully crafted confession of his addiction to drugs, beer and writing. It's an fantastic rags to riches story.The second part of the book - which is the "On Writing" segment - gets put on hold after a horrific accident left him on a long road to recovery. The style of writing here is much more off the cuff - this is the kind of stuff that rolls off the tongue for Stephen King and easily rolls off the pen as well. Here, he runs through some solid writing tips that I think quite a few people will be aware of - don't use too many passive sentences, avoid adverbs like the plague. Think of storytelling in paragraphs rather than sentences. It's a George Orwell approach - don't use two words where you think one word will do. Don't let the writing get in the way of the story. "Elements of style" by William Strunk is the source for much of his thinking.I am far from Stephen King's Ideal Reader (IR). I personally prefer a long ramble through the literary forest rather than speeding to the destination. It's clear that Stephen King doesn't spend hours agonising over the structure of a sentence - he is on story autopilot, flying through the details and the happenings. Some of the tips added in at the end, on how to approach a literary agent, are acquired from a friend struggling to break through now. It does appear that success came to Stephen at a different time. I'm not sure his style of writing would be the harbinger of success for a new writer today. It does make for accessible reading, and I'm keen to buy a couple of his novels to see how it works.What I got most from this is that Stephen King seems like a really likeable guy and a great teacher - he has no time for BS. He says what comes to mind, even if it is the word BS. If you are a truly bad writer, he can't help. But he has laid out some solid rules that will make a good writer into a better one.

Stephen King is one of those writers that if you have never read one of his books, you'll still be familiar with his stories by virtue of so many of them being adapted into film. This was particularly helpful when reading 'On Writing' as he references a number of his own novels throughout. The 'instructional' part of the book, where he talks about the nuts and bolts of writing prose, seems to be aimed more for the beginner writer but there is also lots of useful information for the more experienced ones as well. There are many passages in the book which are truly inspirational and insightful for the writer who is struggling with that novel and the overall take home message from King about being a writer is to 'read a lot and write a lot'. The rest, it seems, will take care of itself. Good advice. Definitely recommend this book.