On Writing, Stephen King

Title: On Writing
Author: Stephen King
No. of pages: 366
Genre: Nonfiction, Autobiography, Memoir
Publication date: October 3rd 1999
Date read: August 26th 2017

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Blurb

Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in the vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999 – and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery.

There is a reason why Stephen King is one of the bestselling writers in the world, ever. Described in the Guardian as ‘the most remarkable storyteller in modern American literature’, Stephen King writes books that draw you in and are impossible to put down.
(Goodreads)

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Review

I’m so happy that I finally picked this Kingbook up after having it on my shelves for a couple of months now. It contains everything a Kingfan wants to know. Like the blurb says: “Part memoir, part masterclass”. You get to know all about Kings life, but he also gives some great tips on how to become a better writer. Besides that you also get to read where he got his inspiration from for some of his more known books like Carrie and Misery, what I really loved. It was also funny to read that he doesn’t have only one inspiration source: he gets his inspiration from every day life, but also from dreams.

This book contained the right amount of sarcasm and casual jokes, which I loved.

Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s. When it comes to actually pulling this off, the writer is much more fortunate than the filmmaker, who is almost always doomed to show too much … including, in nine cases out of ten, the zipper running up the monster’s back.

– Stephen King

I’m not the biggest fan of films (of course, I like them, but I love books), because you don’t decide how to experience it. You just experience it. When reading, your view on a story and how you see the characters and the scenery can be so very different from that of the other readers of the exact same book. You can still make the story your own. I hope my blabbering makes any sense.

Overall: this book made me so excited to start writing again! As a little girl I wrote so many stories about my stuffed animals or just made up characters (mostly animals though) and I really miss it. Most times I’m afraid my stories won’t be interesting, so why waste not only my own, but also the time of others? That’s a load of bullcrap of course. I just have to start writing for myself, instead of thinking what others might think (or not think). This book really gave me the motivation to start writing stories. Now only to become inspired.

The scariest moment is always just before you start.
After that, things can only get better.

– Stephen King