Ok I’ll admit it, I have never read a Stephen King novel
*gasp* but after reading his non-fiction work “On Writing” and hearing about
his books from my boyfriend (who is an avid fan) I’ll definitely be adding his
novels to my summer reading lists.
PHOTO CAPTION: I bought this book from Half Price (sorry Stephen I’m new graduate and have limited funds!) and inside the previous owner had left a bookmark – the King of Hearts. I found this symbolic enough since Stephen King has such a passionate heart for writing and it’s now in my collection of things to look at when I need inspiration.
I just
finished his book “On Writing” and really got into it. It’s sub title is “A
Memoir of the Craft” and I have to agree that it is quite the memoir and really
describes his love for the writing craft. The book starts out as an
auto-biography and states the way he got into writing at a young age encouraged
by his mother to let his creativity flow through his writing. What I found
especially inspiring was when he talked about his rejection letters. Not that I
have gotten any rejection letters yet (as I am still writing my manuscript
draft), I have felt the sting of not being hired for some freelance jobs that I
have applied for. It was great to find out that even a very well-known and
respected author had the same experience when he first started out. I loved how
Stephen described what he learned during this rejection process and how he
never gave up. He just kept on writing stories and articles and sending them
out to publications during the 1950-60’s. The process to get published now
hasn’t changed very much except in the way documents are attached via email and
approved or rejected more quickly these days. Still whenever I am sending out a
proposal or article I still have the same feeling like, “Is anyone actually
going to read this?” or “where in cyber space did my content end up?” Even
though I have only been doing freelance for profit for less than a year, it was
still inspiring the read how every writer starts in the same place: broke,
determined, and waiting for their big break.
On Writing
also highlights something I had been neglecting – reading. King states that in
order to be a great writer you have to be a good reader and keep up with others
doing the same thing you are trying to do. Neglecting a reading practice won’t
give you any inspiration or encouragement to continue on with your own writing.
Since my manuscript is in the genre of New Adult Fiction, I have looked for
other novels that are trying to cover this genre as well. I found a few and
I’ll review them on here when I’m finished. I must say that Stephen was right,
every time I crack a book open that has similar “college-aged” content like
mine, I do get inspired to write. Maybe I like something that they wrote or
maybe I thought how my character would have said something similar (or not). Or
how the descriptions are cheesy or the way the character’s inner dialogue seems
too much like in film “breaking the third wall” which speaks to the viewer
directly and isn’t seamless like an internal voice over. When reading novels as
the pertain to my own book I feel very much like I am dissecting the product to
see what I can apply to my own writing.
The book
then goes on to discuss the different aspects of writing fiction – description,
dialogue, character building and theme. It has A LOT of example from Stephen’s
works which are great and from other novels as well. My favorite section was
about dialogue and how so many writers either get dialogue right or very, very
wrong. The example he highlights really gave me an idea of what to avoid in my
own writing and see things that I don’t think I could ever pull off (but those
authors did). The section about revision was also very helpful. It describes
how a portion of the work (10%) should always be cut at the end. This will
streamline the book and make it easier to read.
On Living
Post Script, was a description of the harrowing accident that almost killed
King and really brought the whole book full circle. It was truly amazing that
he survived and came back to writing to help his recovery. After reading that
story, I was like what am I complaining about? Or waiting on? Life is precious
and I really want to get my story out there.
As a crazy
line edit fanatic, I LOVED the very last part “And Further More, Part I: Door
Shut, Door Open” which has a sample of his editing process. This section was
full of really juicy line edits and section edits that I know I will be
referring to for years to come. I especially like his shorthand methods and
symbols used for editing. I feel like these days I have a few symbols but it
isn’t taught in school the same way as before word processors.
IMO this
book is great for anyone aspiring to be a writer and learn more about the
process. It is a long one and this book isn’t short but like King said he felt
he barely scratched the surface and I wished he had written more. The stories,
examples and life tribulations were very accurate even decades later after
publishing his first successful novel.
