This is a refreshing read and highly recommended. You will thoroughly enjoy this book if you’ve ever read (and enjoyed) Stephen King, even if you have no plans on writing a novel.
The first part of the book is a short biography, which gives some insight into the subjects he chooses, re-occurring themes in stories, and style. In the body, King quickly provides his mantras for aspiring fiction writings. The most important lesson – read alot and write alot – which is nothing new, but the point is well made. He provides specific examples of how he drafts and edits stories. King claims that he actually does not plot most of his novels before he begins to write. He puts a character into a difficult/interesting situation and watches them work though it as he writes, as if he’s digging a fossil out of the ground. Some of the books that he plotted out before writing included “Insomnia.” I stopped reading that 600 page book after 400 pages because I could not stand another page: a good example against plotting. ALL PAID LINKS #ad
The latter part of the book recounts King’s near-death experience. He was run down by a distracted driver while walking on a shoulder near his Maine home. This part of the book is written with a stiff, matter-of-fact tone, which is unlike King. As an attorney who has conducted many depositions, and prepared witnesses prior to depositions, I thought his description of his experience read like prepared testimony. Maybe his attorney edited that part of the book He could also have been so traumatized that he simply couldn’t be fully honest about those events.
I’m currently reading “Under the Dome,” by King, which was written after his accident. It’s fun reading a King novel immediately after “On Writing.” I feel like I understand better what he’s doing as the story progresses, and see how he crafts his characters and plot with language. Still, the car accidents that occur at the beginning of the story seem more real than the flat description of the accident that nearly left him dead or paralyzed.
Bottom line: great read, highly recommended.
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