On Writing endeared me to Stephen King. This is a book that everyone can enjoy, whether or not you are a writer. This was the first book I ever read on the craft of writing. I was not sure what to expect, but I knew that if anyone could lend an aspiring writer like myself some tips, it would be “the King”. The advice he gives in the book is directed towards fiction novelists but can be applied for any writer. This is also true of my advice in this blog since I am striving towards my first fiction novel.
The first half of the book takes you through King’s formative years and how he began writing at a young age all the way until when he is writing On Writing in 1999. King rarely writes non-fiction but you wouldn’t be able to tell because he has such a strong voice and unique style. My emotions ran the gamut reading it, humor, sadness, joy, fear. If I had to pick one that prevailed over the others it would definitely be humor. King has such a crass and honest way of talking it’s as refreshing as it is funny. You quickly know what you are walking in to with the first few sentences of the Second Foreword, “This is a short book because most books about writing are filled with bullshit … I figured the shorter the book, the less the bullshit.”
What King was trying to allude to is that everyone has their own way of writing. As I mentioned in my first blog post, there is no one way to write. The only true way to discover how you write is to start writing! That being said, it always helps to learn how the masters do it so you can borrow things that work for you. But again, the only way to figure out what works is to write. Writing a lot is the first major tenet that King speaks to and the other is reading a lot. King unequivocally feels that to write well you have to do two things, read a lot and write a lot.
This brings me to the most important lesson I gleaned from this book. Find a set time to write and do it everyday. Not only that, but hold yourself accountable and set a minimum word count to achieve by the end of that writing session. Start out with a small goal, five hundred words a day or even a thousand. You can take a day off here and but try to do some sort writing that day, a journal, short story, blog post, anything.
The second most important had to be the policy of keeping the door shut during your first final draft and wide open on the subsequent drafts. King’s reasoning is that you don’t want someone else’s thoughts and ideas to change how the story will unfold so early. I completely agree with him. You are figuring out who your characters are and how they react to situations, bringing in outside people will taint the process. Finish your first final draft and then have others find plot holes, grammar mistakes and tell you how they felt reading it.
That leads me to the last lesson, that I have yet to get to but I will follow it when I do. After you finish your first final draft, lock it away and don’t touch or look at it for six weeks. Six weeks?! Sounds like forever doesn’t it. Especially because you are so proud of finally finishing the first draft, you can’t wait to show everyone all your hard work. If you can manage this part, it will make your book much stronger than it could otherwise. The best editor for your book is you. The problem lies in our inability to notice small details we have seen so many times that our brain ignores. Not just small parts, maybe whole chunks of the book you deemed “perfect” long ago and so your brain skims over those parts when rereading them. Taking time away from your book will allow you to gain an outside perspective on your own book which I think is invaluable and therefore worth the wait. After that amount of time, you still recognize that it’s your writing but your eyes will be fresh and ready to see new things.
This book has something for everyone and well worth the cost even if you read the first half detailing his life and skip the more in-depth writing techniques and habits. King also added his personal reading list of books he read at the time and the anniversary edition (the one linked below) has an updated list. If you pick up a copy, let me know in the comments after you are done reading it and tell me what your favorite part of the book is.
You can find On Writing on Amazon in its various formats.
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Kyle Wood is an amateur writer, currently writing his first novel. Lover of Scifi and Fantasy books.
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