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On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
My tastes changed, I grew up. I started buying those expensive trade paperbacks, you know the ones. They're the ones printed on quality paper, they don't fit easily in your pocketbook and they aren't sold in a revolving rack at the supermarket. In many cases, those later books were indeed better than what my past literary taste craved. Nevertheless, I still have a soft spot for Stephen King. When I heard he wrote a book on writing, I was intrigued. Then I read an excerpt in "The New Yorker"; it described what happened to him when that truck mowed him down. Interesting. When the book came out, I bought it in the most revered of book forms: hardcover. The book is split into three sections. The first part is a memoir of how Stephen King turned out the way he did, you know, creepy. Obsessed. With monsters. With gore. With writing. The bulk of the book consists of his philosophy on writing. He doesn't really have anything new to say about the art of writing, but what he says is written in such a charming, conversational way it sounds new and interesting. He has the easy teaching style of your favorite, patched-elbow-jacket-wearing professor. I think more when I write now, in a way I didn't before. I remember things he said and incorporate them into my work. He also describes how to edit one's own writing, which most writing books don't bother with. Editing is not only the editor's job; a good writer can do some of that himself. The last part of the book deals with the accident that nearly killed him and the long process of recovery, both physical and mental, that followed. His shocking story reads like one of his novels, especially when he describes being hit by the pickup; his sketch of the inbred redneck who ran him over is superb. This is a fantastic book for anyone who wants to get into the mind of one of the most prolific and best selling authors of all time. I recommend it for anyone who is interested in learning about the process of writing, taught in a clear, bullshit-free way. |
I have several books about writing and the best of the bunch was written by, of all people, Stephen King. That's right. The Stephen King of the prom massacre, haunted car, killer clown and evil reanimated pet. When I was in junior high I read every Stephen King mass-market paperback I could get my hands on. To me, he was a genius. It's been a very long time since I felt that way. Stephen King himself described his writing as a the literary equivalent of a Big Mac. Fast and yummy, but full of empty calories.