On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

I'm not a King fan but picked up the book after some bits were featured on the 37signals blog [http://37signals.com/svn/]. It's a funny book about his childhood, how he became a writer, and the accident he was in that almost killed him. Strunk & White have laid out the basics of being a good writer; King retells what it was like to fail and achieve.

Also, there's a lot of fart jokes.

I haven't read too much of King's work, but I know enough about him to find him interesting, and I've always wanted to write something and have never really pushed myself to try, so I figured this would be a fun read.

It's a great mix of autobiography and advice on how to write. Because of how prolific and successful he is, King has so many examples and stories at his disposal using works that most anyone is familiar with to showcase what he had learned while writing and how the aspiring writer can learn from it too. Even without the Writing Guide trappings, I think he tells some excellent stories here, and that extra layer just makes it all the more engaging.

I listened to this via Audiobook from the library, which King himself narrates. He can be a bit monotone, but it definitely adds some weight to the whole thing, especially in the more personal moments. His story of his wife tearing up after he told her that Carrie had been successfully sold four a large sum of money really got me.

When I started this book, I thought it would be more of a “memoir of the craft”, but was surprised to see it's much more of a memoir of King himself. His own rise an author from nothing to one of the biggest names in writing.

I loved the individual stories of hard work, coupled with a mission to just write. From selling short stories to other kids while in school, to submitting to magazines, Kind wrote and wrote and hustled. It would have been easy for him to give up, but he had so much he wanted to say that he couldn't not write.

This book was on a list I saw on tumblr of books on writing that every writer should read. When I saw it on sale for five bucks at a secondhand book shop at the airport, I figured, “why not?” I can only recall having read one Stephen King book (The Green Mile), and I thought it was alright. But even if you're not a rabid King fan, the guy knows what he's doing. After finishing this book, I have to agree with that blogger that every writer should read it at some point in their career.

The book is half memoir and half how-to guide, and both facets are equally engaging. For some reason I've always had an impression of King, despite knowing little of him, as some aloof, stern and sort of creepy dude who pumps out novels from a dark room in a hermit's mansion. But this book reads like a conversation, and after the conversation I've found that I like Mr. King a lot more than I thought I would.

Mr. King writes casually. He's funny but honest, in accordance with one of several writer's dogmas he introduces: “Tell the truth in your stories.” He offers a lot of solid advice: kill your darlings, cut the adverbs, trust the story and your gut. King dissects what a novel is, figuratively and mechanically. Some of his opinions I liked; for example, the thought that a novel's first draft should be done with “the door closed,” for the writer alone, before opening the piece to critique. Others I did not, such as the assertion that plotting creates “wooden” stories. But the nice thing with King is that he makes sure you know that these opinions are his, they are what works for him, and you are totally free to discard them.

Mr. King's most important piece of advice from this book is simple but often overlooked: read a lot and write a lot. That's all that you need to be a better writer. I've found myself agreeing with him, and I'm hoping I'll be able to stick to the resolutions this book has inspired me to make.

Great book to read even if you have absolutely no plans to write anything creative. It was part memoir, part discussion on his writing process and what you might take away from his story. Like sitting around a living room and listening to him chat about what makes him tick. Finding out how much rejection and reality hounded him, but he kept at it and learned to be himself. Anyone who has dreams that seem to keep getting further and further away might find some inspiration while reading this book.

Je ne suis pas un grand lecteur des romans de Stephen King. J'en ai lus une petite dizaine quand j'étais plus jeune, puis j'ai fini par le lasser. Je ne remets pas du tout en cause la qualité de ses romans, mais le lecteur que j'étais et que je suis toujours avait alors besoin de se nourrir avec d'autres auteurs, d'autres récits.

Pourtant, je me suis décidé à lire ce livre de Stephen King, qui est souvent cité parmi les références quasi-indispensables quand on recherche des livres sur l'écriture.

J'ai été surpris par le premier tiers du livre, un peu étrange, où Stephen King nous raconte des épisodes de sa vie, de l'enfance à l'âge adulte. Une suite d'anecdotes certes sympathiques mais pas toujours passionnantes, et surtout éloignées de ce que j'attendais de ce livre.

La suite est heureusement bien meilleure, et l'auteur s'intéresse alors au coeur du sujet : son métier d'écrivain, sa façon d'écrire, ses conseils aux auteurs débutants ou plus expérimentés. J'ai trouvé cela très intéressant et riche en conseils que l'on peut retenir ou pas pour sa pratique personnelle. C'est en tout cas passionnant de découvrir la façon de travailler d'un auteur aussi populaire que Stephen King, avec ses dizaines de best-sellers.

It was fascinating to enter the mind of Stephen King. The guy knows how to write good books. It's honest, interesting and to-the-point writing. The first part is a memoir, he talks about his childhood, early inspirations, his first jobs, his family. Then he talks about his trade. It's full of advice, even grammar tips. Take care of your vocabulary, avoid adverbs like the plague and master the elements of style. “You have to read a lot if you want to be a good writer”. So he is the type of person who reads all the time, every time he gets a chance. He goes through 70 or 80 books a year! That's impressive!

Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don???t have time to read, you don???t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that. – Stephen King, On Writing. Kindle Edition. pg. 109

The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better. – Stephen King, On Writing. Kindle Edition. pg. 213

5⭐ e Favoritado!

Este livro é tão bem estruturado e escrito, tocante nos momentos certos, descontraído... E muitos outros adjetivos que alongariam demais esse resumo.
Este é meu primeiro livro de Stephen King e muitos podem pensar que comecei errado, uma vez que na biografia, ao contar sobre sua trajetória, explica o processo criativo de seu trabalho. O que poderia ser considerado como spoiler, no meu caso, serviu apenas para instigar ainda mais a curiosidade de ler tudo.
O livro ajudou-me até mesmo na elaboração do TCC (e estudo química!).

Jeg har aldri hatt spesiell interesse for Stephen King, verken typen eller forfatterskapet. Det har nok med at han skremte vettet av meg med Firestarters en gang på 1980-tallet, og siden har jeg ikke hatt behov for å lese noe av ham. Før nå. Denne boken var helt grei gjennom første del, som var en slags CV over hans tilblivelse som forfatter. Men så løsnet det. Han ble mer personlig, og handlingen som det å skrive er, ble mer nær, og plutselig ble det en interessant bok likevel. Nå er Stephen King en litt mer aktuell forfatter, og 23.11.63 står på leselista mi.

After hearing so many people rave about this book, I foolishly assumed it would be impressive in some way. It wasn't. I mostly skimmed the second half because it seemed like such a waste of my time; another reviewer mentioned this is for people who want to write like Stephen King and I have no desire to suffer that fate.

Stephen King is often referred to as a master of his craft and On Writing only serves to reinforce that fact. His lifelong dedication to the art of writing is what radiates past all the anecdotes and advice that are so graciously imparted in this text; that and his deep love for his family, which really made me smile.

Whilst SK's humour often peeks through in his fiction, it took this autobiographical work for me to fully appreciate just how funny he is. I was absolutely howling at points, and moved to tears at others. A rollercoaster of a book, and exactly what a book that teaches you about writing should be like, IMHO, reinforcing the point that there is no magic formula to help you write a good book, and there's no secret idea bank that successful authors have access to and you don't. Good writing is a product of hard work, patience, and practice.

Part memoir, part writing advice, part storytelling about recovery from being hit by a van (!) A great read, and I loved how down to earth he is. I was pleasantly surprised by his view that stories sort of tell themselves - you're discovering them as you go and sharing them with the world. Reminded me a little of the ideas in Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic. His writing advice was more general/applicable to fiction for obvious reasons. If you want specific pointers pick up the Elements of Style.

For the record, I've never read, nor do I intend to read any of his books. Not my thing. But the man is a household name for a reason and I enjoyed reading about how he got to where he is. It's in the same vein as Scott Adam's How to Fail book - an average guy who works really hard to get really awesome at what he does and finds success. If you hear enough stories like this you'll begin to understand what is meant when people say “you make your own luck.”

When I started this book, I thought it would be more of a “memoir of the craft”, but was surprised to see it's much more of a memoir of King himself. His own rise an author from nothing to one of the biggest names in writing.

I loved the individual stories of hard work, coupled with a mission to just write. From selling short stories to other kids while in school, to submitting to magazines, Kind wrote and wrote and hustled. It would have been easy for him to give up, but he had so much he wanted to say that he couldn't not write.

On Writing is a phenomenal book about the craft. While I've read many a book in my life, I've always struggled to think about what exactly makes a great book, what gives it that ability to grab you and drag you even deeper into its world.

Stephen King lays out how you should go about crafting worlds and characters but doesn't get bogged down in the nitty gritty of it, rather he gives you the tools and broad strokes you'll need to get down to figuring out that for yourself. The beauty of his approach is that it applies to writers of any genre, not just horror or suspense that he is the master of.

While I've just finished this book, I can see that over the coming years I'll come back again and again to learn more from it., with each read-through giving me something new to use and ponder on.

This is most definitely one of the most essential tools in any writer's toolbox.