My high school writer's craft teacher hyped this book. She said we, every aspiring writer at my little rural high school, should read On Writing. Perhaps she really loved Stephen King, or perhaps she hoped we would all get the same, or similar lessons she had from it.
To make a confession, I have never successfully finished a Stephen King novel; it's not because I dislike his writing, or think he isn't good. I just have never felt motivated to read my way through one his massive books. It's a matter of genre taste. When there are so many other books I could be reading and so little time to read them, I must pick and choose carefully. Thriller and horror novels have rarely been my first choice.
But, when I saw this crisp copy of On Writing displayed at a local independent bookstore, I couldn't help but pick it up. The pages are so smooth and creamy. The black and white of the binding appealed to me in the same way a faded black and white photograph falling out of an old album does. At only $18, I thought it was time to give this book a try.
Writing in a style half memoir and part instructual, King recounts his early writing attempts--a paper printed in the family basement and a peg skewering rejection slips from literary magazines on his bedroom wall. He describes the hard years before the publication of his first novel, Carrie (I've seen the original movie, but never ventured to pick up the book) and the difficult years he spent as an alcoholic. He offers advice on the use (or overuse) of adverbs, on editing a first draft and on other aspects of the writing process, while telling the tale of his personal writing and life experience until until 1999, when On Writing, which was first published in 2000, was completed.
I love this book, not just because I dabble in an occasional bit of creative writing, but because Stephen King can tell a good story. His writing in this book is as entertaining as it is thought provoking.
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