On Writing - A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
I was lucky enough to pick up a good second-hand paperback from the local card shop last week.
I finished reading the 367 pages by breakfast-time the following morning.
The book, an international bestseller had the title On Writing - A Memoir of the Craft (2000) by Stephen King.
The paperback was the 2001 New English Library edition published in Great Britain by Hodder and Stoughton.
Stephen King admits that he took more time to write this non-fiction book than most of the novels he is famous for, and have been turned into successful films.
The author begins by describing memorable events from his childhood and his first attempts at writing fiction, which started quite early in his life.
Although Stephen King recommends reading voraciously as the best preparation for the novice writer, as a youngster he was hooked more on comics and the cinema than on literary works.
"Horror movies, science fiction movies, movies about teenage gangs on the prowl, movies about losers on motorcycles - this was the stuff that turned my dials up to ten.
" (p.
40).
He talks of having hitch-hiked fourteen miles to the Ritz "during the eight years between 1958 and 1966" (p.
40) until he was old enough to get his driver's licence.
He was born in 1947.
King describes meeting his future wife Tabitha (later also to become a novelist) and their continuing happy and fruitful relationship after marriage which contributed much to his success as a writer.
However, he also describes a period in his life when he showed the symptoms of an addict to both nicotine and alcohol.
While it lasted he was unaware how serious the addiction was.
Compulsive addiction did not apparently affect his capacity to produce some major works during this period.
Again, he attributes his rehabilitation to the cohesiveness of his family.
Stephen King introduces the idea of an appropriate toolbox for the craft of writing, by citing one of his uncles, who was a carpenter that one had to be ready with all available tools for a job, since one would not know in advance which tool(s) would be required.
He starts with 'vocabulary' as the first essential tool and goes on to describe 'description' and 'dialogue'.
He deals with 'character development' but emphasises 'honesty' as the basic ingredient in all imaginative writing.
He gives good advice on why it is not necessary to get too concerned with 'plot'.
He likens story writing to the unearthing of a rare 'fossil' from the writer's imagination.
Very often the plot only surfaces when the fossil is uncovered.
Concepts like 'theme' and 'symbolism' are dealt with simply, without fanfare.
Stephen King distances himself from the standard advice given to would-be authors that they should restrict themselves to writing 'what they know'.
This is an obvious inference which can easily be drawn from his work throughout his illustrious career as a writer.
While in the midst of writing 'On Writing', Stephen King met with a horrific accident.
In June 1999, he was hit by a van while walking on a country road in Maine.
It is almost a miracle that he survived.
Finally, when he was able to sit up, he took up writing this book once again.
He treats the accident and its aftermath in the same wry humorous manner that he uses throughout the book.
An early example: "...
in some company it's perfectly all right to prick your finger, but very bad form to finger your prick" (p.
130).
Later, after the accident, in hospital, Stephen King and a 'wispy eighty-year-old woman named Alice who was recovering from a stroke'' were "learning to walk at the same time".
Stephen takes up the story.
"On our third day in the downstairs hall, I told Alice that her slip was showing.
'Your ass is showing sonnyboy,' she wheezed, and kept going.
" (p.
319).
There is an added bonus to anyone buying this book which is the inclusion of the "winning short story from the ON WRITING competition".
'Jumper' by Garrett Addams exemplifies the kind of writing that Stephen King excels in, where the "surprise ending did, in fact, surprise him.
(p.
352)".
This book contains unique insights invaluable to any aspiring writer of fiction.
I finished reading the 367 pages by breakfast-time the following morning.
The book, an international bestseller had the title On Writing - A Memoir of the Craft (2000) by Stephen King.
The paperback was the 2001 New English Library edition published in Great Britain by Hodder and Stoughton.
Stephen King admits that he took more time to write this non-fiction book than most of the novels he is famous for, and have been turned into successful films.
The author begins by describing memorable events from his childhood and his first attempts at writing fiction, which started quite early in his life.
Although Stephen King recommends reading voraciously as the best preparation for the novice writer, as a youngster he was hooked more on comics and the cinema than on literary works.
"Horror movies, science fiction movies, movies about teenage gangs on the prowl, movies about losers on motorcycles - this was the stuff that turned my dials up to ten.
" (p.
40).
He talks of having hitch-hiked fourteen miles to the Ritz "during the eight years between 1958 and 1966" (p.
40) until he was old enough to get his driver's licence.
He was born in 1947.
King describes meeting his future wife Tabitha (later also to become a novelist) and their continuing happy and fruitful relationship after marriage which contributed much to his success as a writer.
However, he also describes a period in his life when he showed the symptoms of an addict to both nicotine and alcohol.
While it lasted he was unaware how serious the addiction was.
Compulsive addiction did not apparently affect his capacity to produce some major works during this period.
Again, he attributes his rehabilitation to the cohesiveness of his family.
Stephen King introduces the idea of an appropriate toolbox for the craft of writing, by citing one of his uncles, who was a carpenter that one had to be ready with all available tools for a job, since one would not know in advance which tool(s) would be required.
He starts with 'vocabulary' as the first essential tool and goes on to describe 'description' and 'dialogue'.
He deals with 'character development' but emphasises 'honesty' as the basic ingredient in all imaginative writing.
He gives good advice on why it is not necessary to get too concerned with 'plot'.
He likens story writing to the unearthing of a rare 'fossil' from the writer's imagination.
Very often the plot only surfaces when the fossil is uncovered.
Concepts like 'theme' and 'symbolism' are dealt with simply, without fanfare.
Stephen King distances himself from the standard advice given to would-be authors that they should restrict themselves to writing 'what they know'.
This is an obvious inference which can easily be drawn from his work throughout his illustrious career as a writer.
While in the midst of writing 'On Writing', Stephen King met with a horrific accident.
In June 1999, he was hit by a van while walking on a country road in Maine.
It is almost a miracle that he survived.
Finally, when he was able to sit up, he took up writing this book once again.
He treats the accident and its aftermath in the same wry humorous manner that he uses throughout the book.
An early example: "...
in some company it's perfectly all right to prick your finger, but very bad form to finger your prick" (p.
130).
Later, after the accident, in hospital, Stephen King and a 'wispy eighty-year-old woman named Alice who was recovering from a stroke'' were "learning to walk at the same time".
Stephen takes up the story.
"On our third day in the downstairs hall, I told Alice that her slip was showing.
'Your ass is showing sonnyboy,' she wheezed, and kept going.
" (p.
319).
There is an added bonus to anyone buying this book which is the inclusion of the "winning short story from the ON WRITING competition".
'Jumper' by Garrett Addams exemplifies the kind of writing that Stephen King excels in, where the "surprise ending did, in fact, surprise him.
(p.
352)".
This book contains unique insights invaluable to any aspiring writer of fiction.
Source...