On Writing
Reviewed by Mike Hubbartt, Copyright ©2007
Author: Stephen King Released: June, 2001 Pages: 288 $14.95 USD, $22.95 CND ISBN-10: 0-671-02425-6 |
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Audience: Stephen King fans, writers – published and unpublished, and people with family or friends working in the craft of writing. Pretty much everyone. Strengths: Powerful, intense, revealing – an important insight to one person’s life experiences working with the craft. Great instructions on things to embrace and avoid Weaknesses: Not a trip to Candy land, King reveals his personal demons. |
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Why does Stephen King write? Pick up On Writing to hear his story in his own words. The book starts with King’s childhood and covers the experiences at school, work, and home that influenced him as a writer. His writing career started as a child, when he wrote and sold short stories to his family and schoolmates. He later tried his hand at journalism – he wrote pieces for his older brother’s home press newsletter Dave’s Rag. Later, he wrote for the school newspaper, then landed a job (okay, was directed to take a job by teachers he’d lampooned in an edition of the newspaper not meant for widespread distribution) as a sports reporter at a local newspaper. During these times his voracious reading habit was only offset by his desire to write and submit fiction.
Influenced by his mother, he attended college where he met his future wife (and mother of their two children) He continued writing and submitting short fiction works, when he started writing Carrie. After beginning the story, he decided to scrap it because it was too long to be published as a short story, but his wife found the crumpled copy and insisted he finish the story. King wrote and submitted Carrie, earning a $2,500 advance for the hardcover. Later, he earned $200,000 for the paperback rights. Pretty big money for a kid brought up by a single mom doing whatever she could to pay the bills.
His mother was ill when Carrie was published, although a relative read the book to her before she passed away. King said she always believed he’d be a writer. Throughout the book he talks about family issues, as well as drug and alcohol abuse issues that affected his writing and could have ended his career. It takes a strong person to stand up and admit they have a problem, and King does that so others will see the things that can affect a writer. King’s fascinating memoir in On Writing alone is worth the price of the book.
In the next section, King explains what writing is – and yes, knowledge of grammar is important. King endorses Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, and that is one of my personal favorites. If you even think about trying your hand at writing, pick up a copy of Strunk’s ‘little book’ and you won’t be disappointed.
King has a few things he condemns: “leaving a trail of pulsing adverbs, wooden characters, and vile passive-voice constructions behind them.” Other books on writing (including The Elements of Style) agree with all three items. Adverbs should be removed as they weaken the story, wooden characters are boring and the product of lazy writers, and active voice is shorter and easier to read than passive voice.
King advocates that writers need to read as well as write. He says “reading is the creative center of a writer’s life.” Reading is fun, it regenerates the soul, and is a good way to learn which techniques to embrace and avoid than by reading work from other authors. While I enjoyed the first section of the book because it gives so much insight into Stephen King the person, the second section provides invaluable writing style tips.
Then I read the third and fourth sections. These two sections get into the tools and techniques of the writing trade. King says a novel has three parts: narration, description and dialogue. Narration “moves the story from point A to point B”, description “provides sensory reality” and dialogue “brings the characters to life.” A brief yet clear explanation that I wished my professors used in Freshman Comp I and II in college.
King does not like plotting. He says “Plot is, I think, the good writer’s last resort and the dullard’s first choice.” Doesn’t pull any punches, does he? King feels stories reveal themselves and writing with “tiresome tyranny of the outline and the notebook filled with ‘Character Notes’” produces a story that feels artificial and labored. I must confess I’ve used outlines, as I don’t know a better way to deal with new worlds for science fiction and fantasy. But, while I want to create the background places of other worlds, I want to try King’s approach to use situation to develop the story instead of plot. He provides a simple exercise for people to try to let the situation reveal a story, and I highly recommend you make the effort. It is fun.
I enjoyed King’s explanation of description in a novel. His explanation how to use enough – not too little nor too much – seems a bit vague, but he says experience will teach a writer how much is the correct amount. And something he brought up escaped me when I read his books. He does not like a lot of physical description of people or clothing. He says “locale and texture are much more important to the reader’s sense of actually being in the story than any physical description of the players.”
His tips on dialogue are excellent. He says “It’s dialogue that gives your cast their voices, and is crucial in defining their characters…” Not that this is new. Other how-to books on writing say the same. What I like about King is his specific examples of who does and does not write good dialogue. If you’re truly serious about writing fiction, at least he gives a list of good and bad examples of dialogue.
His other insights on dialogue are useful as well. He says, “that writing good dialogue is art as well as craft.” I’m not wild about people who use the ‘art’ thing to explain without defining – kind of the rage in the 60s and 70s (if you don’t know something, say ‘it’s art, man’). King is better than that type of person and follows this by saying that “the key to writing good dialogue is honesty,” and that is a tip a writer can and should use.
Another thing I’ll quote from the book: “every book – is about something.” He goes on to talk about The Stand – my personal favorite King novel – and how he suffered writer’s block after writing the first 500 pages. He spent time figuring what the story was really about, then finished the first draft nine weeks later. How many books do you read that are 500 pages long? And he didn’t have a problem until that point? How can you argue with his belief that situation is more important than plotting?
I’ve read a number of books on writing, and everyone has a different opinion on the revision issue. King writes two drafts and does one last pass to polish the story. He doesn’t let anyone see his work until after the first draft, and sets it aside for six weeks before looking at it again. He then reads the draft in one sitting (when possible), correcting misspellings and inconsistencies, then does the second draft. He gets a few trusted advisors to read the draft then adds the polish and sends it off to the publisher.
Regarding back story (background that affects the novel), he says “The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.” I found this difficult when considering the needs of most historical, science fiction and fantasy stories, but King refers to JK Rowlings as someone very good with back story and recommends reading her work. Since fantasy and science fiction are my two favorite genres, I think I’ll look at one or two of her ‘Harry Potter’ stories.
King also addresses some common myths about agents and publishers – they are human, are not part of a conspiracy to only represent friends and friends of friends, and they truly want to find and publish works from new authors. King also suggests buying a copy of Writer’s Market (from Writer’s Digest Books) - my copy is beside my desk, in easy reach and I agree it is well worth the price for new or experienced authors.
The final section is titles On Living: A Postscript. In 1999 while walking near his home, King was hit and injured by the driver of a blue van. It took months of care and physical therapy to recover, and something he did while recovering was finish this book. He had started it in 1998, but set it aside, and although his injuries affected how long he could write, his wife Tabby knew he needed to return to writing. The result? A powerful and honest guide to the writing life that can only help improve your fiction.
Conclusion
I learned a lot from this book – more than I expected when I bought it at Barnes and Noble. While I was reading King’s memoirs, I enjoyed the information but didn’t think this book would help improve my writing. I was wrong. After finishing the book, I believe it will become a classic writer’s reference. King tells the reader what he does, how he does it, and, most importantly, why he does (and does not do) things.
Some people choose a career because they love the idea of being something, while others choose a career because they loving doing the work. King’s upbringing was not easy, and the common vein throughout his life is the drive to write. There are several ways to measure success in literature: awards, peer recognition, and sales. Stephen King’s books sell well, but he writes because he loves to write. He will be remembered long after his critics are gone, and that is success.
Oh, and before I forget – King wrote this book on a Mac. Is that surprising?
Recommendation
If you enjoy King’s work, write, want to write, or know someone that makes a living with the craft, buy this book. Buy a copy for yourself and buy another copy for a friend. Everyone writing fiction should buy a copy and periodically re-read it. Highly recommended.
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