Rating: 
Summary: Thank you! Mr. King.
Review: This is a great book. Mr. King shares not only details of his life, spots and all, but he then goes on to tell us what he does and how, exactly, he does it. He tells us the place of his writing, the time of it, the vocabulary, the grammar, the phrase, the sentence, and the paragraph, all presented with the love of a craftsman and the care of a parent. Speaking of parents, my daughter grappled this book away from me. She is aged nine, and is a writer and wants to be a writer. I just advised her to avoid the rough beginning, for now, and she began to read in the Toolbox, and then, On Writing. One could do much worse. What and why does one write? Mr. King suggests that the writer has no choice in the matter. One just has to write about what one wants to know, and there is a personal and public duty to do so as well as possible. Our writing is a testament to our humanity, as is this book, and bad writing is a testament to our lack of it. I would urge this book on every school board, and pray to see well-thumbed paperback copies in large print in every knapsack.
Rating:
Summary: To Read is Human, To Write Divine . . .
Review: The most amazing thing about Stephen King's "On Writing" is that nearly every page has something useful for the aspiring writer. I don't agree that the middle third is the only section for the writer; for me, the first third gave me the best idea of the sort of childhood and life that MADE Stephen King a writer -- the first third sets up perfectly how he is who he is, and why he loves to write. Best of all, King is able to transform that absolute love for writing to the reader of the book. Writing IS fun, should BE fun, and for him, you can see why it is. . . As a published writer of short fiction and poetry, I still learned more about APPROACHING the art of writing through this book than all the other books and magazines I've read on the subject combined. While reading it, whenever I got down about the progress of my own work, a single page read from this book and I was back on track. An amazing work on the art of writing fiction, it should be required reading for any class on creative writing.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: On Writing is a fabulous read. Educational and an interesting story together....it is clear that King is using his own advice in the writing of this book and hoping that the reader will notice how and where he's used it....some people say that it is really in two sections but I do not agree...it is after all, "a memoir" on writing so of course he gives a picture of his childhood and young adulthood so that the reader can see how anyone with enough desire and talent can become a writer. To be a truly great writer though is something mysterious and magic. It may be apparant in our childhood if we are like Stephen, compelled to read and write from a very young age. A vivid imagination. The motivation to sit down and write for hours every day and enjoy it....this book which I finished tonight has inspired me to try writing. I haven't published anything and I am a 40-ish housewife, but friends tell me that I have some writing talent. They say they see it in my letters and emails, etc...and now after reading Stephens book it doesn't seem as far-out an idea anymore...this book is so inspirational...I underlined many things.....I just love ya Stephen!...one interesting thing I discovered from reading this book was that at the same time S.K. started drinking, I lost interest in his books. His first few books were so good that my husband and I would literally tear the books in half so that one of us could read the first half and one the second half! Then I quit enjoying his books and stopped reading him for about 15 or so years....I picked up Bag Of Bones one day and was hooked again...soon read Geralds Game and caught up on a couple others....Your biggest fan...HJK
Rating: 
Summary: Just Read It!
Review: This book is for writers, readers and fans. For writers, King's advice is to "just do it", including your homework, and encourages us to BE writers by assuming the disciplined position of writing: create your space, lock in your time, brush up on your grammar and write write write. For readers, here's some bio on this private celeb we've come to know only through his fiction. No surprises: here's his rapid sneak-up-on-you style, and through it we recognize ol' Steve on every page. For fans, King has extracted tidbits from the mind from which his books were mined and given us some personal gems. The anecdote on page 30 is worth the price of the book... I read it on a flight from Atlanta to SFO and laughed until I cried.
Rating:
Summary: Down East Sensibility
Review: Surprise! Stephen King, master of the horror fiction genre, wrote a second nonfiction book, "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft." Surprise! S.K. penned a pageturner on his writing life ("C.V."), his toolbox (well-constructed metaphor for a writer's toolkit), his practical advice for writers, his reading list, and his recent near-fatal accident. Surprise! This book appealed not only to his fans but also to those who have not read his other thirty books. For an editor, what's not to love about an author who says, in his Third Foreward, "One rule of the road not directly stated elsewhere in this book: 'The editor is always right' . . . .[and] to write is human, to edit is divine." I have recommended this book to several novelists, both for King's teaching on the craft of writing and for his down east sensibilty. Mr. King's "C.V.," a creative "Curriculum Vitae," offers this keen insight: "In my character, a kind of wildness and conservativism are wound together like hair in a braid." So he recounts adventures and academic credentials. One evening, King asked San Francisco author Amy Tan what was the one question they were never asked. She replied, "No one ever asks about the language." In "On Writing," King shows us the language; he writes fresh, funky, in-your-face prose. Here are a few nuggets: ". . . my testicles turned into stoplights"; ". . . by most Friday afternoons I'd felt as if I'd spent the week with jumper cables attached to my brain"; ". . . perky as a rat in liverwurst." No "deified plums" here.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous: Extremely Pleasing or Successful
Review: I've always considered Stephen King to be one of the great storytellers. He knows when to let off, when to keep you hanging and how to move the story along. I appreciate that he wrote a book like this because writing about how to write is a little like describing something which is indescribable. The memoir (the first part) is great. He's so completely entertaining when describing such basic things that it makes you wonder what is or isn't fiction. Doesn't matter because I was tickled all the while. Don't discount the second part of the book either where he lets you in on all his creative secrets. I found this part to be completely fascinating. Very giving of him to let us in on all of this. It's a little like Sharon Stone letting you in on all of her beauty secrets - the hair, the makeup, the diet - you know you may not use all of the tips but you know they're there, in case you feel like being fabulous.
Rating:
Summary: a memoir from the king
Review: _On Writing_ was not quite what I expected. I have several "how to" books on writing, so I know what to expect out of one. This book surprised me. King spends less than 100 pages on the mechanics of writing. The first part of the book is a memoir of (certain parts) his life. And he follows the on writing section with a commentary on the accident that almost killed him. But just because he doesn't spend much time discussing how to write doesn't make this book unworthy of reading. In fact, it is one of his better books. Unlike his previous work of non-fiction, _Danse Macabre_, king's voice comes through. It's almost like you're sitting at a diner drinking coffee while stephen king talks to you about his life (and who wouldn't take a few hours from our lives to talk to the king). It's entertaining and informative. Anyone who is a fan of his will love this first section (titled C.V. and i'm still trying to figure out what it stands for). One of my favorite aspects of a writer is his/her voice in the work, and king has fully developed his voice for this one. And the final section, on living, is haunting. The conversational tone king used throughout the book is gone when we get here. Instead it's a more disembodied voice, almost like he wasn't involved in the accident and is just reporting it. I never realized how serious the accident was until I read this. This section touched me more than any other work king has done. He wraps the book up with a list of books he has read the past couple of years (and it is not surprising to see the range of his tastes) and an example of the revision process, from one of his own short stories. I say you definitely have to pick this book up. It is his best yet.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Fascinating glimpse into Stephen King's life and work. Funny, touching at times, and great common sense advice for writers! I loved every minute of it!
Rating:
Summary: Probably the best book on writing fiction I've ever read
Review: As an as-yet-unpublished author, I have read plenty of books about writing. Many of these tomes have been interesting, even helpful, but none of them have been as incredibly approachable and likable as Stephen King's most recent work. He writes it in the style of a long-time coach, a good friend. He is optimistic about writing (he should be, at 40 million a year), but more importantly, he imbues in the reader an optimism about writing. I recommend this book to anyone, whether or not you are interested in penning your own opus. When you finish it, you'll feel like you just finished visiting with an old friend, and you'll like the feeling.
Rating:
Summary: Good Memoir and How-To Manual
Review: King's outstanding book "On Writing" consists of two basic parts: a sort of autobiography, and a "how-to" manual for aspiring fiction writers. The autobiography was a lot of fun for me because I have always enjoyed King's work and have naturally been very intrigued by everything about him, from the unbelievable stories that he comes up with to the slightly crazed look in his eyes. It was a pleasure learning about his childhood and adolescence, and the foundations that gave rise to his classic style of storytelling. I also found his thirty-year love affair with his wife and his struggle as a recovering alcoholic and drug user truly inspirational. Finally, I was fascinated by the story of the recent accident he was involved in and his recovery after a repeat-offender reckless driver ran over him on the shoulder of a Maine highway as the driver "was headin' into town to get some of them Marze's bars." The "how-to" section of the book was very interesting and a great review of all the grammatical rules I should have learned in high school, and the techniques of style I should have remembered from Freshman Composition. The only thing I feel should be pointed out to prospective readers is that the "how-to" section of "On Writing" applies almost exclusively to aspiring novelists or writers of short fiction. Although almost anyone who writes anything could stand to learn something from it, "On Writing" was not really written for journalists or graduate students writing research papers. On the whole, "On Writing" was a lot of fun and a pleasure to read. As a matter of fact, as I write this review, I can't help shaking my head, pondering how much work my writing could use!
|
