On Writing

Rating:
Summary: The Heart of Writing
Review: This is an exceptional book on writing. One of the best!

When I first first bought the book, I thought it would probably espouse all the common diatribes on writing (i.e. write what you know, outline your plot, blah, blah, blah) but I was completely wrong, and pleasantly so. Instead I found a refreshing personal dialogue with the author that unchains you from pedantic conventions and provides sound advice for transforming one's passion into craft, and ultimately into the essence of good writing.

This book is about the core creation of ideas, the key tools to good writing, and the need to focus oneself on the truth as every author sees it.

There are many good books on writing (Lord knows I've read enough of them, as I'm sure you have as well) that are formula based. The difference between King's book and these others is that it intertwines the author's life experiences, his passion for the art form, and the development of his story telling abilities with his growth as a living, breathing human being. He literally combines personal experience with hard lessons learned about the craft, book by book, story by story.

For example, King often times relates how he connects two disparate ideas and discovers to his amazement that he has discovered an artifact, a fossil in the ground that is the genesis for a creative idea, more compelling than a plot, a situation that begs to be defined. From such events have come his best stories. I dare you to find any other book on writing that so unabashedly describes the events that shaped the author's ideas and learnings about good writing into succesful novels as succinctly as King does.

By interweaving the personal experiences of his past, the tough realities of a single parent home, the allure of addiction, and the love of his family, he demonstrates how he has managed to overcome his demons and routinely tap the muse that sits somewhere between his conscious mind and the far off subconscious in the basement of his mind.

On a more technical level he gets to the heart of what is important to bringing one's writing to a new level, what he calls the tool box of writing, that is, the key elements or tools every successful writer must keep omnipresent and sharp to do good work.

If you are an apsiring writer you could do far worse than read King's work. (It's a bit reassuring that one of the world's most successful writers had to use a literal spike in his bedroom, not a pin mind you, to hold up all his rejection letters early on in his career).

If you are looking for the catalyst that will energize you, push you forward (I know it had that effect on me), and help you overcome the hurdles of what writing is supposed to be about, than I recommend this work to you.

If you are a fan ( but hopefully not too much of a fan, ala Misery) than you will still enjoy this close dialogue with a favorite author, an everyday guy who just happens to be very good at what he does, sometimes to his own surprise.

Expect the melding of King's own special take on those special moments and observations in his own life that developed the skills and craft that have shaped his work.

Expect to be surprised!

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read and a great help
Review: On Writingis half memoir and half instruction. While I don't rush out and buy every Stephen King book, I do admire his ability to tell a story. I've loved some of his books and have been so disturbed by others I've put them down, never to pick them up again. That aside, anyone who has sold as many books as Stephen King has to have something of value to say to writers.

I enjoyed this book immensely and was also helped by it as I start to write fiction. Besides being a fun read, King addresses things like story versus plot, characterizations, rewrites, getting an agent and other things. There was nothing earth shattering in the book, but it did reaffirm some things I thought I knew about writing fiction. It also made me excited to continue this project of mine.

I admire King's willingness to share details of his past they have shaped his writing and his openess about his alcoholism. Sometimes we tend to think best selling writers are somehow different than the rest of us. King's book shows us he is as flawed as the rest of us but is also focused on his passion: writing.

I find most books on writing either boring, verbose or just plain lacking. This was none of the above and I recommend reading it, highlighting sections and reading them again as needed.

Carmen Leal, author of WriterSpeaker.com

Rating:
Summary: A Small Gem
Review: I'm not a fan of Stephen King's books, but I respect the experience of any seasoned writer. King offers sound advice for how to get started and offers guidelines to protect you in the publishing world. I took particular pleasure in several personal details of his life for the way it mirrored my own frustration. Moreover, we shared the same philosophy that all literature, good and bad, can impart valuable lessons. Readers are warned that while he can help make a competent writer better - there is no hope for those that can't write well, and don't read. I don't know why this isn't required reading at the high school level.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent view of the craft
Review: I have read many of the books written "by writers, for writers" and have almost always come away disappointed. More often than not, the reader is subjected to 100+ pages of the master telling his or subordinates the "correct" way to write.

I was pleasantly surprised by Mr. King's book. To tell the truth, I purchased it more for its memoir qualities than its instructional ones but the latter is was proved to be the more valuable.

King does not tell the reader (the aspiring writer) how to write. Instead, he gives concrete examples on what works for him. He is also open to the possibility (gasp) that what does work for him may not work for someone else.

As for the memoir qualities, there really wasn't anything "new" there as his life has been illustrated in countless articles and TV bios. However, his own take on it is priceless.

Rating:
Summary: I learned so much from Stephen King
Review: And I didn't really read the book because I thought I had writing mystically spelled out in my future. I read it because (and this may sound silly) as a constant reader, I have always enjoyed his introductions and afterwords. Reading them makes me feel like I am able to understand the how and why of that particular novel.

This book is exactly like a conversation with an amazing writer that I've always wanted to have.

Wonderful - even if you don't think you have what it takes to become a serious novelist, King makes you feel like....you just might.

Rating:
Summary: Informative, witty and fun
Review: On Writing is one of the most helpful books I've read on the subject to date. It covers a wide range of writing components in sufficient detail without boring or overwhelming the potential writer. King does an excellent job of demonstrating how his life experience influences his writing style and motivation. I was surprised to lean of the number of movies I've enjoyed that are based on his novels. Although he's not an author whose work I've read in the past, I have all intentions of catching up on some of his earlier novels and look forward to his future work. On Writing is an excellent addition to the writer's toolbox.

Rating:
Summary: Last Night I Slept with Stephen King...
Review: ...on my mind. I had just finished his new book, "On Writing", and was as exhilerated as if we'd been in conversation all evening. That's how reading the book felt, as if he and I had been sitting at a kinder, gentler version of the Algonquin Round Table and just enjoyed talking about writing.

The conversational tone of the book only made it more enjoyable for me, from the C.V. section in which King described the events that shaped his life as a writer, to the end, where he discussed getting back to writing after his accident. What comes across clearly and above all is his LOVE for writing. He talks about it as being magic; those sudden flashes of insight, the glow he feels inside when somebody likes what he wrote, the sense of satisfaction when he rereads a first draft and thinks, this is okay. It needs work but it has resonance and purpose.

I was really interested in the section that dealt with King's problems with drugs and alchohol. In fact, I'm committing some of it to memory for those writer friends who think they're in some kind of hot fraternity just because they can toss back a few like Hemingway or Fitzgerald. King commented that creative people probably do run a greater risk of alchoholism and addiction than those in some other jobs but, as he put it, "We all look pretty much the same when we're puking in the gutter." Exactamently.

I think that anyone who's a Stephen King fan will enjoy the book for the insight into a favorite author that it gives. To tell the truth, I've never read one of his books; I bought this because I'm a writer. So to the writers out there - especially the ones who have enough writing under their belts to know that they have SOMETHING going on, but aren't quite sure how to make the most of it - this book is going to be a friend. I plan to keep it on my writing desk, where I can look up those phrases that I marked in yellow highlighter. King is a guy with no pretensions about his writing. He's a craftsman who shows you which writing tools he's passionate about, why, and how they work for him. He takes you from words (and those little creatures of the dark - adverbs), to sentences, to paragraphs (the building blocks of stories), to the full story, with a superstructure of theme, symbolism, and honesty. He discusses the nuts and bolts of a writer's life, from first drafts to agents and publishers. I feel as though I've been given a guidebook to help me through when I'm confused or discouraged.

Mostly what I get from the book is a sense of joy about writing. Despite setbacks, Stephen King loves what he does. In every page, he conveys the same message - find joy in what you do, or do something else.

So, yeah, Stephen King was on my mind last night. Now it's morning, I've finished this review, and with "On Writing" nearby, I'm ready to get back to the joy of writing.

Rating:
Summary: practical
Review: King maintains that he wrote the first part of this book before his terrible accident and the rest following. Unfortunately, it shows. The first part of the book has a snappiness and freshness that is missing from the rest of the book. I wasn't swept away by this book as I have been by other "writing books" -- say by Natalie Goldberg. But then not all writing books should or can do that.

The main part of this book is packed with practical, how-to information for novice and established writers alike. All of it is useful. None of it is unimportant. The best part? King's claim that you can make a competent writer into a good writer, but you can't make a bad writer into a compentent one. You have to come with a certain amount of stuff already intact. I'm glad someone has finally put that out there on the table for the truth that it is. King also includes a line-by-line edit of one of his own stories so you can compare and contrast.

I was also impressed by King's great intelligence. Of course, you can't write even bad run-away bestsellers if you don't have some brains and talent, but it really came through in this book. And one cannot dismiss his courage in going back to his desk after his tragic accident. There is a lot to be learned from this "short" book (King's words).

Rating:
Summary: A look inside an interesting mind...
Review: If you'd like to know what makes this guy tick...take a look. This is a quick read filled with an assortment of information. From early childhood memories, amusing anecdotes, and tips on writing your own stories, to WHERE ideas for his stories came from (which is what I'VE always wanted to know)...it's all here.

Don't judge Mr. King as a person or a writer without having read this, his latest work.

Rating:
Summary: Lessons From a King
Review: To write, or not to write. King prefers the former, and his newest book on writing (pun unintentional) captures King's opinion about what makes good writing. As an avid reader of King's writing, this non-fictional account is a success. It clearly relates enough memoir without the long, depressing incidents of his "wrecked" years. The section of the book entitled "On Writing" gives the reader a taste of Strunk and White with a main course in King's preferences and aviodances in writing fiction. I enjoyed the section on adverb use and King's sharp sense of humor. The book belongs in any reader/writer's toolbox. Steve, I am sure, would bask in the light of my anxiously avoided adverbs(OOOPS!).