On Writing

"Long live the King" hailed Entertainment Weekly upon the publication of Stephen King's On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer's craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King's advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported near-fatal accident in 1999 -- and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it -- fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.

Amazon.com Review
Short and snappy as it is, Stephen King's On Writing really contains two books: a fondly sardonic autobiography and a tough-love lesson for aspiring novelists. The memoir is terrific stuff, a vivid description of how a writer grew out of a misbehaving kid. You're right there with the young author as he's tormented by poison ivy, gas-passing babysitters, uptight schoolmarms, and a laundry job nastier than Jack London's. It's a ripping yarn that casts a sharp light on his fiction. This was a child who dug Yvette Vickers from Attack of the Giant Leeches, not Sandra Dee. "I wanted monsters that ate whole cities, radioactive corpses that came out of the ocean and ate surfers, and girls in black bras who looked like trailer trash." But massive reading on all literary levels was a craving just as crucial, and soon King was the published author of "I Was a Teen-Age Graverobber." As a young adult raising a family in a trailer, King started a story inspired by his stint as a janitor cleaning a high-school girls locker room. He crumpled it up, but his writer wife retrieved it from the trash, and using her advice about the girl milieu and his own memories of two reviled teenage classmates who died young, he came up with Carrie. King gives us lots of revelations about his life and work. The kidnapper character in Misery, the mind-possessing monsters in The Tommyknockers, and the haunting of the blocked writer in The Shining symbolized his cocaine and booze addiction (overcome thanks to his wife's intervention, which he describes). "There's one novel, Cujo, that I barely remember writing."

King also evokes his college days and his recovery from the van crash that nearly killed him, but the focus is always on what it all means to the craft. He gives you a whole writer's "tool kit": a reading list, writing assignments, a corrected story, and nuts-and-bolts advice on dollars and cents, plot and character, the basic building block of the paragraph, and literary models. He shows what you can learn from H.P. Lovecraft's arcane vocabulary, Hemingway's leanness, Grisham's authenticity, Richard Dooling's artful obscenity, Jonathan Kellerman's sentence fragments. He explains why Hart's War is a great story marred by a tin ear for dialogue, and how Elmore Leonard's Be Cool could be the antidote.

King isn't just a writer, he's a true teacher. --Tim Appelo

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Interesting but not his best, 2009-01-05
Stephen King's book Carrie and The Shining were the first grown up books I was allowed to read. I was twelve. So, Mr. King has a special place in my heart.
I am a fledgling writer and I knew I had to read anything written by Mr. King concerning the craft of writing. However, I came away with only one piece of advice from him and that is "Write alot and read alot." I kind of figured this out for myself.
If you want to learn a little personal history about Stephen King, read his book. But if you want information on writing, look elsewhere.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

great memoir, less than great writing advice, 2008-12-30
Stephen King's On Writing is part memoir and part advice and observations on the craft and business of writing. I confess to not having read any of King's fiction, although my mother was a great fan, so I know what most of his novels were about, second hand. There's no question that Stephen King is one of the most successful popular writers of the 20th century, so an opportunity to read his thoughts on writing is not to be missed.

This book is not a textbook or workbook on the craft of writing, but instead a very personal reflection from the perspective of its author. This is both its strength and weakness.

If you learn by example, the memoir section has a lot to say about how to keep your readers engaged. King shares brief scenes from his life, vignettes of key moments in his development as a writer and a person. These are utterly engaging, and wonderful examples of how much can be said by a few carefully chosen words and images.

I was less pleased with the section on writing, however. The advice King has to give is solid, and articulated very well. And there are a handful of truly memorable observations in this book. But mostly, his advice is rather commonplace, sometimes feeling like an uneven and uninspired recycling of Strunk and White. We learn to avoid adverbs and the passive voice. We don't need Stephen King to tell us that. And when the topic turns to something where we might hope for wisdom from a master, such as plot construction, King doesn't have much to say. (He doesn't think anyone should think about plot. Just put the characters in a situation and write down what happens. That may work if you are born storyteller like King, but most writers do have to think about plot construction, at least once in awhile.)

King acknowledges this deficiency himself, saying at the end of the book that he was disappointed that most of what he had to say was obvious, and that the aspects of writing that weren't obvious were things he could not articulate well.

This is a must-read if you are a Stephen King fan, or just curious about how a hugely successful writer works and views his work. If you are hoping for a book that will teach you how to write as successfully as Stephen King, or even how to write consistently well, this is not the best resource; it is too idiosyncratic and spotty in its treatment of important aspects of the writer's craft and art.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Learn the Craft, 2008-12-23
Stephen King may be thought of as a hack, but one doesn't get that idea after reading about what he thinks of his profession. The book is chock full of good, simple, insights that will help the writer convey meaning in every word. The following are the best points he makes.

NEVER WASTE WORDS: Every word should have a meaning that conveys something to the plot. There is very little patience for flowery language or tangents that have little to do with the main flow.

SHOW, DON'T TELL: What every lit major already knows, but very few manage to ever put into practice well.

AVOID ADVERBS: I somewhat disagreed with this one, as I believe they have more value than he thinks. However, I agree the word wistfully should never be used.

THINK IN TERMS OF SITUATIONS: Don't think of grandiose meanings to your book and write it. Think of a situation that is interesting and let it expand. The rest will naturally follow.

LET THE CHARACTERS REACT TO THE ENVIRONMENT, NOT HOW YOU WANT THEM TO REACT: Don't make your characters mouthpieces, make them actual human beings.

If I had a recommendation for Mr. King that he neglected to mention, it would probably be.

THERE IS ROOM FOR SUBLETY: Anyone who has read a Stephen King book knows he's not too great at this one!

There's plenty more insights in this book, and it's short enough where it's well worth the time of any writer or aspiring writer to read.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

A New Stephen King appears . . ., 2008-12-23
I read Stephen King's "On Writing" quite some time ago. For one: I have never enjoyed Stephen King's novels. However, "On Writing" brings forth a new Stephen King, one who knows how to teach his craft of writing. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it for would be writers, writers, and certainly for readers who need to know how writers go about becoming writers.
High praise for "On Writing." Written well, and truthful. Maybe King should stick to non-fiction!!


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

More than just the master of horror!, 2008-12-19
I have been a fan of Stephen King since I was a teenager. This book give the reader both an inside look into his rise to fame and some very sound writing advice. I had been an aspiring writer since my teens as well, but I could never get it quite right. My scripts had a good scene or two, but then they felt forced. Then I read "On Writing," and King's method of developing characters made perfect sense to me. Every writer could find not only writing tips but also inspiration in this book.

Now I'm a published author with an award-winning book (Rowan of the Wood), and it is in part due to what I learned from this book.

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