You won't buy another writing book after this
Written: May 02 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: easy to read; helpful tips; cuts through the BS
Cons: a little thin on advice -- but maybe that's good!
The Bottom Line: It's like King coming to your house, telling some stories, and dropping a little inspiration along the way.
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| wahoo95's Full Review: Stephen King - On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft |
In 288 pages, Stephen King fleshes out how and why he became a writer and provides some valuable instruction to the budding writer.
King understands a lot of important things about writing.
First, you must write a lot.
Second, you must read a lot.
Third, not everyone can do it.
Fourth, there is no shortcut to becoming a good writer.
Although the book is broken into two distinct sections -- one autobiographical and one instructional -- the autobiographical is almost as instructive to the writer. In a conversational tone, as if you're out on your back porch with King, he shows you how he became a writer. He shares his early struggles and you see the spike of rejection slips. If the King was rejected as often as he was before striking it big, then the aspiring writer should not be discouraged by rejection. You also see how he made time for writing. During his lunch hour, after work, on weekends. This shows the aspiring writer how it IS possible to make time to write. Although the rest of the bio is quite interesting, those are the most important points made.
As for the instructional section, it too is quite valuable. King provides a writing exercise, he talks about creating a writing schedule. He reflects on the usefulness of outlines, character development, the battle between plot vs. story. You may or may not agree with his advice. You may like using outlines and character sketches. There's nothing wrong with that. But no one can dispute the two most important lessons (again with the 2 important points) from the instructional section -- you must read, read, read! And you must set your butt in that chair and write, write, write! He suggests a thousand words a day to start (he does 2,000). If you follow even that 1,000-word schedule, you'd be surprised how quickly the pages pile up.
He also understands that every successful writer was, once upon a time an unsuccessful writer. To that end, he provides valuable advice to those seeking to break into print.
A couple of other key points that I took from the book. Most writing books are useless. Without dedication and imagination, no how-to book is going to get you into print. Dedication means sitting at the keyboard or with notebook and pen and loving the process of writing, even when it's going badly. Imagination means reading everything you can get your hands on, whatever you want to read, and soaking it all in. Don't read to learn -- read for the pleasure of it. The learning will come automatically. And pay attention. The visible, and not-so-visible world is out there, just outside your front door. And all of it is ripe for storytelling.
Recommended:
Yes
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wahoo95
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Location: Virginia
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20-something lawyer
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